General

Horner happy with strategic freedom in midst of high temperatures

4 July 2020 at 18:04
  • GPblog.com

Red Bull Racing was barely able to stay on the track of the inimitable Mercedes during qualifying, but thanks to a different strategy has the chance to change that tomorrow. Team boss Christian Horner is therefore quite proud that they were the only ones who managed to do so.

"Mercedes gave a dominant performance today, but it was also a positive start for us, with Max qualifying in P3 and Alex in P5. We made a brave strategy decision resulting in Max being the only driver in the top ten to start on the medium tyre, which provides us with many strategic options for the race."

Temperature until cooked plays a major role

By starting on that harder tire Max Verstappen has the opportunity to follow his competitors when they enter the pits for the first time on Sunday, but because his rubber will probably last longer, he can also choose to stay outside. Moreover, late in the race he may be able to make a difference on the soft tyre, while the competition rides on the medium. Exactly how that is going to be depends on the temperature.

"The temperatures are also due to increase tomorrow which helped us take the win last year so that gives us confidence to take the fight to Mercedes. The entire team is excited to be back racing and it couldn't be better starting the season at our home track. Let's see what tomorrow brings but it is shaping up to be a great race."