Red Bull driver avoids having fate like Charles Leclerc with last minute change before race start

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen reveals that his team initially planned to start with hard tyres but avoided Charles Leclerc kind of fate.

Red Bull made some perfect calls on Sunday that forced Ferrari to make rash decisions and lose the race. One of those costly decisions was running Charles Leclerc on hard tyres after 40 laps of the race.

This made him lose grip on the track, and Max Verstappen and George Russell quickly overtook him. Before this, the Monegasque was in a comfortable lead position.

Red Bull took advantage of Leclerc’s helplessness, and Verstappen went on to win the race. However, the Dutchman reveals that he was about to go on the same compound tyres before the race. But a last-minute observation forced Red Bull to start with soft tyres.

Max just revealed in the press conference that Red Bull originally put him on the hard tyre strategy for the start but he struggled massively in his installation laps on softs so they switched their strategy only minutes before the race.#HungarianGP

— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) July 31, 2022

This problem faced by Red Bull surely turned into a blessing in disguise. Verstappen struggling on soft tyres meant he would struggle even more on hard tyres. Thus, one can only commend the instincts of Red Bull.

Also read: Joel Embiid star trolls $1.3 billion F1 team for spoiling Charles Leclerc’s race

Charles Leclerc losing sight of the championship success

With this win, Verstappen has over 80 points lead over Leclerc. The Ferrari star will have to gain immensely on the Dutchman with only nine races. But the possibility of it seems unlikely, until Verstappen faces some performative misfortunes while racing.

Therefore, it’s easy to say Verstappen has one hand on the championship trophy. Even Verstappen making mistakes isn’t enough if Ferrari makes questionable strategies. The Hungarian Grand Prix is proof of that.

Among all the races, Verstappen made some mistakes which he hardly makes. He pinned on the track. He started from P10. Yet, he won the race because Ferrari couldn’t come up with a strategy that could have gotten them 25 points.

Therefore, first, Ferrari has to sort out their own troubles. After that, they can think of making a comeback into the championship and benefitting from Red Bull’s troubles.

Also read: Ferrari goes against Charles leclerc wishes that could have won him race

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

Read More