Bojan Vrbnjak
Friday on both free training it turned out to be Max Verstappen on a medium tire mix in a race simulation faster than both Mercedes racers Lewis Hamilton in Valtteria Bottas.
Comparison was harder this time because the racers had to take care of it as well Pirelli's tires of the 2021 season. That's right, for example Valtteri Bottas said: “If I could turn back time, I would do certain things differently in training.”For Tota Wolff, the head of the Mercedes team, it is clear: “Any of the top three can win the Bahrain Grand Prix race.”So too Max Verstappen from third place. Is the team of world champions Mercedes in the desert perhaps counted on tires? Wolff"The best strategy of the race is to start on a medium tire mix, followed by two stops with a change to a hard tire. But we won’t be able to do that because we don’t have another set of hard mix, as we used it in free practice."
Tire wear has been so great at trainings and qualifications so far that strategists teams Formula 1 flirt with tactics two stops. The Austrian adds: "Verstappen has a second set of hard rubber tires at his disposal, so he can afford the medium-hard-hard tire tactic. We can't do that,”He adds worriedly Wolff. Of course, we have to take these statements of his with some caution, since at Mercedes it is already considered a constant practice of expressing concern and fear, but in the end it is quite different.
