Red Bull’s Christian Horner insists Sebastian Vettel’s two-stop strategy was right – Formula 1 news
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has said that Sebastian Vettel took the right decision in the Chinese GP, to stop only twice on his prime tyres.
Although Hamilton won the Chinese GP, but still Red Bull’s Formula 1 challenger is the best car to beat others one. The RB7 engine’s pace was fabulous and balanced in the race. Horner added that Vettel can win the season’s next race, if he again uses two-stop
strategy during the course.
He said, “We probably needed to get one or two laps on both sets of options and we would have done it, but it was bloody close. We did not expect Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg to drop off quite as dramatically as they did, and Lewis went straight through
them.”
He went on to add, “It was close. It was not a disaster but it was a gamble that didn't quite pay off - but at the point we made the gamble we had been P3 coming out of Turn 2. I think if we had run in clear air, and made the start, then we would have got
those few laps longer on both of those stints, and I don't think it would have been a problem.”
Red Bull had a very strong start in the 2011 season. Its driver Vettel performed very impressively for his team and won both events of the season, held in Australia and Malaysia. The team participated in the Chinese race weekend and posted the fastest run
over Friday’s practice and qualifying session.
In the Chinese GP, Vettel started his race, standing ahead of all Formula 1 drivers, but he took his initial stop very early due to high degradation of the soft tyres. As a result of taking early stop, he lost his lead in the race.
He was happy with his second place and was still looking for his next podium position of this season.
On the other hand, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa admitted his two-stop strategy, used in the Chinese GP was not declared positive for his race place. He added that he would have used a three-stop strategy during the race for the team’s better results than
his sixth-place finish in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, his teammate Fernando Alonso defended the two-stop strategy, since he considers different strategies would not have changed anything in the race. Alonso finished his seventh fastest run of the race, behind Massa and got six points for Ferrari.
The upcoming race of this season will take place on May 8, 2011 in Turkey.
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