Verstappen and Perez found this choice by Red Bull 'risky'

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30 May 2022 at 10:13
Last update 30 May 2022 at 10:54
  • GPblog.com

Red Bull Racing took a risk according to Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen by choosing the medium tyre for the last part of the race. Perez, in particular, still ran into problems, but in the end it made no difference to the final result.

Due to the crash of Mick Schumacher, the Monaco Grand Prix was held up due to a red flag halfway through the race. When the drivers returned to the track, it became apparent that teams had chosen different strategies. For example, Ferrari kept Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz on the used hard tyres, where Red Bull sent Perez and Verstappen out on new mediums.

Red Bull takes a risk

''The call to go with the medium at the end was quite risky, I think, compared to just staying on a hard tyre,'' Verstappen informed the press conference afterwards. When asked to explain this a bit more, the Dutchman said the following: ''We did it for more grip, but with the rolling start it didn't matter anymore.''

Although Verstappen thought it was fair that there was a rolling start because otherwise half the drivers had to start on a wet track, the medium tyre had a big disadvantage for the Red Bull drivers.

Perez has it tough

''When I saw my mediums on the car, I thought ‘it's going to be quite a tricky one to the end.’ But luckily, my feeling, I had still decent tyres to the end. I mean, of course, they're not in the best shape, but they felt alright.'' Perez had more problems with his tyres, also because he was under heavy pressure from Sainz.

''So we thought that it was going to be a relative short, short race, but still there were plenty of laps. And I'm sure if we were to do the race again, we will have chosen a different tyre to do the race,'' the race winner concluded.