Analysis Grand Prix of Verstappen: set of less mediums cost Max the lead

The race of Max Verstappen went smoothly in the first hour. The Dutchman took the lead after the first lap thanks to a great overtaking move at the start. Mercedes however had Verstappen and Red Bull in a vice from the second pitstop. But why? We explain!

Hamilton went in for a second and final pit stop with about 25 laps to go. The British driver got mediums again on his W12. Mercedes wanted to go for the undercut, but the undercut never came as Verstappen decided to stay on the tarmac.

So why didn't Verstappen just go straight in? The reason is that Verstappen had a set less of mediums than the men from Mercedes. Verstappen could only go to the red tyre and with so many miles still to go, the 23-year-old driver could never have made it to the finish with the softs.

Strength of second man Bottas plays major role

Moreover, there was another danger on the track by the name of Valtteri Bottas. The Finnish driver would have gone for a one-stop anyway at the moment that Verstappen would have come up behind Hamilton in the pit lane. The eleven-time Grand Prix winner would then have had to overtake Bottas on the track and according to Red Bull's calculations, that would have been very difficult, as the mediums were expected to hold up pretty well until the end. The opposite proved to be the case, however, as the mediums experienced a major decline in the last ten laps.

The Barcelona circuit is a difficult track to overtake on, so track position is very important. If Verstappen had gone in a lap later than Hamilton and had ended up in front of him, Mercedes could have let Bottas reduce his speed to catch Max. Hamilton would then be able to close in and overtake Verstappen.

And that's why it's such a shame that Sergio Perez had to come from eighth and could never get involved in the fight upfront. Had the Mexican driver been right behind Bottas, he could have done an undercut on the Mercedes for a podium finish. Bottas would have gone for new tyres anyway and that could also have influenced Verstappen's strategy positively.

Why not do a pit stop after all?

And why didn't Verstappen come in for fresh rubber when he felt twenty laps before the end that it wasn't going to be him this way?"We had one set of new soft tyres left. We thought about risking it. But we would have fallen behind Bottas at that point too. And overtaking Bottas again would have cost us a lot of time. Then there would have been Hamilton to overtake as well," Helmut Marko commented to Sky's German branch.

The conclusion is that the race pace of Mercedes was so much higher that they had tactically much more possibilities. That Perez could not assist his teammate in the fight for victory does not help.