How Red Bull outplayed McLaren with impeccable strategy in Qatar GP
Photo: Race Pictures
Tobia is a Formula 1 journalist at GPblog with experience at international circuits. Since 2022, he has covered Grands Prix across Europe, delivering reliable coverage and insights from the paddock.
Red Bull’s Principal Strategy Engineer, Hannah Schmitz, spoke about the strategy that allowed Max Verstappen to win the Qatar GP.
“There's such an advantage to pitting under a safety car when you've got to do the two stops that to us that was a clear thing we should do”- Hannah Schmitz
Once the safety car was deployed following the collision between Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly, Red Bull, like the rest of the grid, chose to pit both cars, while McLaren opted to stay out — a decision that would later prove to be a sporting harakiri for Norris and Piastri.
Asked by Viaplay to explain the race strategy in detail, Schmitz said: “Pre-race, that was exactly when our safety car and virtual safety car windows opened, and that was the plan. So we would pit both cars if the safety car came out on lap 7.
“There's such an advantage to pitting under a safety car when you've got to do the two stops that to us that was a clear thing we should do, and I guess a lot of the pit lane felt the same. But obviously on that in-lap we're hearing, ‘Oh, McLaren are staying out.’ Everyone's like, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want to pit?’”
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Max Verstappen wins the Qatar GP - Photo: Race Pictures
Schmitz then said she felt reassured once she saw that almost all the cars, except for the McLarens at the front of the pack, had pitted.
“I thought definitely that's the right thing to do. And then, as soon as I saw everybody else coming in as well, I thought, 'Okay, that's fine. Although it meant you have no flexibility at all when you make the second stop, just the advantage of gaining that much time.”
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Verstappen fires another cheeky dig to McLaren after blunder in Qatar GP
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Max Verstappen once again pointed out that his continued fight for the title is partly down to McLaren’s mistakes, such as those made during the Qatar race.
The Dutchman added that he didn’t expect to win the race and that McLaren’s strategic error of keeping both drivers out on track was another example supporting his point.
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