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We're in for an excellent strategic contest today

"We're in for an excellent strategic contest today"

18-04-2021 09:35

GPblog.com

The qualifying session for the Emilia-Romagna GP at Imola was, just like three weeks ago in Bahrain, one to savour. It was exciting right up to the last second, and when the smoke cleared the top three were within one tenth of each other.

Strategic battle

This makes for a great view of the race, especially considering that for a change there are two Red Bulls facing one Mercedes instead of the other. The different tyre strategies of the drivers also gives it all an extra dimension. Karun Chandhok is looking forward to the race on his own Twitter channel: "We're in for an excellent strategic contest today"

The former Formula One driver continued, "For the first time in I can't remember how long Red Bull have two dogs in the fight with Mercedes. The only problem for them is that Lewis Hamilton is on exceptional form." Chandhok tries to predict what strategy we can expect this afternoon: "It will be a one-stop race. This is because overtaking is very difficult here. So the key will be when the teams will decide to stop."

Mega-race

Chandhok thinks an undercut is possible for Perez, who will start on the softs. However, this will not be completely without risk: "The problem is that the Mclaren's, the Ferrari 's, Gasly, they are all much shorter than previous years. If he stops early he could easily end up behind them." Chandhok expects Perez to have a good chance of taking P1 at the start: "The tyres give him a great advantage. Whatever happens, I'm sure it's going to be a mega-race."