FORMULA 1

Christian Horner left surprised by Mercedes decision

Franz Tost Germany

Red bull boss Christian Horner was “surprised” by the choice of Mercedes during the Mexican GP.

Mexican Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen once again triumph over Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. The race turned out to be extremely boring though with little to no fight out in front.

After the opening lap swap of positions between Hamilton and Russell, the 7-time world champion chased Verstappen. However, Hamilton could never come within the striking distance of the Dutchman. The Briton started on Medium Tyres compared to Verstappen’s softs.

The reason came down to the strategy as many argued that Mercedes bottled up their strategy.

Mercedes opted to go for hard Tyres in their first and only pit stop of the race. The strategy was a response to Verstappen’s Medium Tyres strategy on lap 26.

Hamilton pitted for Hard Tyres on lap 30 hoping that Mediums on the red bull would eventually fade away and then the Mercedes could strike. Russell was similarly put on the same strategy. But strategy turned out disastrous for the team as red bull built a mammoth lead to win two podiums in the race.

Verstappen took his record-breaking 14th win with a lead over 15 seconds from Hamilton.

Soft-medium was the way to go – Christian Horner

According to Christian Horner, soft-medium was a better strategy and the team was rather surprised by the choice of Mercedes:

“With the hard, there’s just not as much grip in the tyre.

“So we were quite surprised Mercedes went as conservative as they did with the medium/hard strategy.

“I think we still had the edge but they would have been a lot closer.

“If you hear their drivers, they’re not very happy about the hard tyre.

“That’s the second weekend in a row they’ve put that tyre on and it’s cost them a victory. I was quite surprised at that.”

Horner acknowledged that Verstappen conserving and extending the opening stint on soft Tyres setup the team perfectly for the strategy:

“We left the strategy open,”

he explained.

“We wanted to see how tyre wear developed in the race. That’s why we started out on soft.

“But I never felt like I was under pressure. I was taking it easy on my tyres the whole time.

“The only question mark was how long the medium tyres would last, but after just a few laps it felt really good. We knew pretty early on that we could make it to the end.”

Ferrari will bounce back – Horner

At the Mexican GP, it was again Mercedes who was fighting with red bull rather than the Scarlett Ferrari. However, Horner believes this will change in Brazil:

“This track also suited their strengths,”

he said.

“Ferrari seemed to have some limitations this weekend.

“We didn’t see their real pace, so I expect them to hit back.

“The most important thing was to get Checo to score points. He is now back in second in the Drivers’ race, that’s our ultimate goal in Abu Dhabi.”

Max Verstappen has already secured the World Drivers’ Title with Red Bull too clinching the constructors title at Austin.

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