“That exacerbated the problem”– Christian Horner reveals that the new technical directive wasn’t responsible for the poor pitstop.
Sergio Perez was on the verge of getting a good result in Russia, but his last pitstop surely spoilt his prospects of ending on the podium. Though Perez’s pitstop was not the only poor stoppage throughout the race, there were several.
The leading cause behind frequent poor pitstops is alleged to be the new technical directive, which imposed limits on how quickly different parts of the pitstop can be completed. Thus, it’s been speculated that the time increase in average pitstops is due to this regulation.
“It took a while to get the tyre off and then the clutch spun the rear wheel, so it took longer to get it back on, so it was frustrating,” Christian Horner says of the pit stop at Motorsport.com.
But Horner reveals that the new technical directive didn’t cause Perez’s underwhelming pitstop; instead, a mechanical problem exacerbated the problem.
“It wasn’t because of that technical directive. There was a slight delay in the wheel coming off and the clutch was released when it was in place. So that exacerbated the problem, that’s what cost Sergio his race.”
Additionally, a staff member from the pitstop crew also got mildly injured from the troublesome pitstop, displaying how grave the problem was.
A gamble that blew
Horner further states that Perez played a gamble by staying out instead of getting intermediaries tyres in the final few laps while the rain flooded the track. On the other hand, Max Verstappen went the other way and got a podium.
“Checo gambled and wanted to stay out. From the team’s point of view that divided our options. Max benefited from the decision to go into the pits and unfortunately Sergio paid the price.”
“It’s always easy to see in hindsight, but at the time it’s obviously very difficult and it was a great decision by Verstappen, which paid off.”
