Remarkable gamble by Mercedes to either cost or deliver them victory
F1 News
- GPblog.com
A remarkable decision from the Mercedes team today. The two drivers, Valtteri Bottas and George Russell, will not only start on the first row of the grid together, they will both do so on a medium tyre, while the rest of the top 10 will kick off the race on a set of softs.
Time will tell if Mercedes' decision to be the only one in the top 10 on the yellow tyre was the right one. However, the discrepancy is sure to create the necessary sensation tomorrow, as the right pit stop strategy might just be the way to victory.
Wolff previously admitted that the choice of the medium tyre was not one recommended to him by the data, as on the modified Sakhir circuit the teams can only use the information from the free practice sessions. The two Mercedes were very close in Q3, and with a difference of 0.026 seconds Bottas managed to take pole position.
Key for Red Bull
The difference in tyre strategy can just be the key for Red Bull: the team of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko has been better in the longruns all weekend, and Max Verstappen is generally the right man when it comes to keeping the tyres alive. In any case, the tyre strategy is something to watch out for in this season's one-second GP.