Red Bull Racing almost started the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix from the pit-lane – Formula 1 news
Red Bull Racing have recently revealed that they almost started the Belgian Grand Prix from the pit-lane since they were facing some technical tyre issues and felt quite uncomfortable with the car.
“We spoke with the drivers about it and said, 'Look, this is the information we have about it: we sat down with the Pirelli guys and said we believe that the risk is minimal, are you comfortable to race?' And they had to buy into that,” said Red Bull Racing
team principal Christian Horner.
The team was unable to go through some dry testing before the qualifying session of the Belgian Grand Prix since almost the whole of practice sessions were held during wet conditions.
Therefore, RBR were unable to evaluate their acquired data as a result of which their tyre choice and setup during the qualifying sessions was not perfect for the race.
The team faced some safety issues as well and they had to make some tough decisions as they had Sebastian Vettel on pole position and they just could not afford a bad result at this point of the season.
After working with engineers from the lone tyre suppliers Pirelli, the team was able to make the best possible decision as a result of which Horner thanked the engineers from Pirelli.
“You have to take into consideration safety at the end of the day. We had great support from Pirelli and working with their engineers and the information they provided to us we were able to make a decision,” he said.
Nevertheless, RBR secured a dominant 1-2 finish at Spa which proved that the team had an extremely fast car despite the fact that they were going through some major technical issues with the RB7.
Either way, McLaren and Ferrari were unable to perform at their best and now it seems that the championship is quite comfortably in the hands of the championship leaders.
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