Sebastian Vettel admits he was surprised to see the Red Bull drivers chose to start the Canadian Grand Prix on the hyper-soft tyre.
The Ferrari driver, who will start Sunday’s race from pole position on the harder ultra-soft compound, said he is confident in the strategy his team has chosen.
“We did what we wanted to do,” he said. “I don’t think the hyper-soft is a good race tyre, so I’m a bit surprised that both of the Red Bulls chose that.“But I guess they have their reasons. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Max Verstappen, who will start directly behind Vettel in third place, said “we feel [the hyper-soft] is a good tyre for us.”
“In the long run I felt good on it, so no big surprises. We knew, or we thought, Mercedes were going to qualify on the ultra-soft. So we’ll see tomorrow.”
Vettel said he could have found more time on his second run in Q3 but lost time in the second half of the lap.
“I was very happy with the last qualifying, very happy with the first lap,” he said. “But I thought that maybe in the first half of the circuit there’s a bit more.
“And the second attempt in Q3 I found that little bit and then I was like ‘OK, now I just need to repeat what I did before, because it was really, really good’. But I struggled and I lost a little bit of time.
“I crossed the line and I wasn’t sure it was going to be enough because I didn’t know who is coming. And then you try to look around at the screens to see something and you wait on the radio but, yeah, big relief when I heard it’s enough and we made it. ”
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Quant
9th June 2018, 22:27
You’d think the top 3 qualifiers for a Grand Prix weekend would look slightly less miserable than in this photo.
David BR (@david-br)
10th June 2018, 14:01
Maybe the media on the other side of the photo have something to do with all 3 evidently preferring to be elsewhere.
Mach1 (@mach1)
9th June 2018, 23:27
Twill be very interesting.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
9th June 2018, 23:32
I’m not, as usual everyone will try to undercut, considering this is Montréal and not Monaco, you don’t need an SFI to get clean air, and then run the super soft until the end.
Starting on Hypers is actually the logical way to go, better traction of the line, early SC/VSC chance is always going to challenge some to pit earçy for ss, anyhow usually cars do undercut much earlier than what the tyres they start on can deliver.
Vettel fan 17 (@)
10th June 2018, 0:15
It should be interesting, strategies are definitely something to watch out for tomorrow
Todfod (@todfod)
10th June 2018, 8:58
Agree. The Mercs have a larger allocation of US and SS tyres, so they might even try a one stop for tomorrow. Red Bulls start on the HS so they might be really quick in the first stint. Max has a shot at battling Vettel for the race lead.
Should be a cracker of a race.
Jason S
10th June 2018, 5:26
I think the reason is that the Red Bulls are easier on softer compounds than either Ferrari or Mclaren. Adrian Newey genius. Red Bull can win this GP.
Jason S
10th June 2018, 5:27
Oops. Mercedes not McLaren.
anon
10th June 2018, 8:27
Shouldn’t that award go to the head of Red Bull’s vehicle dynamics unit instead, given that the suspension configuration will be a significant contributor to the tyre management of the car?
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
10th June 2018, 8:59
Even though the Canada circuit is kinder on tyres than most others, there is the question of following another car while shod on hypersofts. If Mad Max, assuming that he does not crash out while trying to jump ahead at the start of the race, has to follow even one of the 2 cars ahead of him for a few laps, his hypers will start to get damaged and that in turn will affect his speed and grip. Then they have to consider either a 2-stop strategy or change to supersofts too soon.
IMO, Red Bull expected at least one of their cars to be in the front row when they set their Q2 times on hypers. On those tyres, being even one row behind can make a significant difference.
kpcart
10th June 2018, 9:02
On the face of it, redbull are so close on a power circuit, but I think it is mainly how well redbull are using the tyres, the hypersoft is much better on their car than ferrari and mercedes
Garns (@)
10th June 2018, 11:52
I am thinking throwing 20 bucks on a red bull win. Dan would be nice but Max more likely