Red Bull Racing Team Sebastian Vettel was fast enough for 3 pit strategy – Pirelli
According to a recent statement by Pirelli, Turkish Grand Prix winner, Sebastian Vettel, could have won the race even if he was on a 3 pit strategy.
This statement clearly highlighted the fact that Red Bull Racing Team was more dominant this past weekend than many people thought.
“With the pace he had, Vettel could afford an extra stop, and that was clearly the decision taken by plenty of other teams as well”, said Pirelli’s motorsport boss, Paul Hembery.
Vettel dominated the weekend, as he was the fastest driver on the track throughout the final practice session, and, qualifying session followed by a dominant run during the race this past Sunday (May 8, 2011) as well.
The team did an amazing job since the reigning world champion crashed out of the first Friday (May 6, 2011) practice session, as a result of which he was unable to compete in the second session as well. Without enough laps on the board, the team managed
to come up with the best package on the grid as they scored their 1st 1-2 finish of the season with Mark Webber in 2nd place.
Vettel secured the win with over 8 seconds over his teammate, who was running behind him in 2nd place.
“We actually thought that Vettel could have won the race with three stops, but the comparatively short pit lane layout here in Istanbul meant that the performance advantage of an extra stop outweighed the 20 seconds, or, so spent in the pit lane”, said Hembery.
The young German also confirmed that the 4th stop was made just to cover all the eventualities. Vettel added that in the end, he could have stayed out on his first set of tyres but he decided to stay on the safer side, as a result of which, he
took the final pit stop.
The reigning world champion is now 34 points ahead of his closest rival, Lewis Hamilton, according to the drivers’ standings with Mark Webber in 3rd place, 4 points further.
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