Paul Hembery: Tyre strategy of Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari was ruined after red flag – Formula 1
Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery has said that red flag tyre change permission by race stewards in the Monaco Grand Prix was a little surprising for the fans because it ruined the thrill of the race.
Hembery stated that because of the less overtaking opportunities available across the Monte Carlo circuit, the only battle was the strategic one which was flushed by the sudden decision of stewards to allow the teams to change tyres in the red flag condition.
He said, “Overtaking is at a premium here, so having the strategic element. I think it was a bit of a shame with the red flag of course, because if they hadn't changed the tyres, then they would have had to fight to the end.”
Hembery cited the scenario of the last few laps where Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, on one stop strategy, was almost done with his soft compound tyres. The German was finding it difficult to defend his position from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who was on a
two-stop strategy and had fresher set of tyres.
When the red flag was shown after Vitaly Petrov’s crash, the race stewards surprisingly gave the permission to change the tyres. After that, Vettel took charge in the final few laps and won the race relatively easily.
Hembery said, “I can understand there is a safety consideration but I am thinking about it more from a fans' perspective to be honest, I've had a lot of people shout at me from the boats around the harbour and say, why were they allowed to change [tyres]?”
Behind Alonso and Vettel, McLaren’s Jenson Button was on three-stop strategy and was also closing in on the Spaniard. However, Alonso was going the fastest of the three drivers but due to the tight turns and straights of Monaco, he was finding it difficult
to overtake the German.
Nevertheless, the race ended in the best possible way for Vettel as he took his fifth win of the 2011 Formula 1 season. However, the Monte Carlo race would have given more than that to the fans had there not been a tyre change during the red flag period.
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