Coming Of Age In Spain
18-year old Max Verstappen takes his historic win at the Spanish Grand Prix
The Expectations I
Barcelona is the first of the European Grands Prix, close to the factories and the usual early season debut of new aero and engine upgrades. While Renault, Ferrari, McLaren and Force India committed to introducing significant updates, Red Bull committed to a significant driver adjustment. Just two days after Daniil Kvyat slammed into Sebastian Vettel, ending the Ferrari driver’s Russian Grand Prix on the spot, Red Bull management replaced Kvyat with Max Verstappen; Kvyat was demoted back to fill Verstappen’s Toro Rosso seat.
Collectively, the F1 world recoiled from Red Bull’s actions; too harsh, too severe, too punitive. Red Bull Team Principle Christian Horner just smiled.
Barcelona also returned the teams to tire strategy variability; with soft, medium and hard tyres as the choices. The cars would all qualify and start on the now-worn soft tyres, but with a full 220 pounds of fuel and Barcelona’s abrasive circuit, they would be ripped to shreds in less than a dozen laps. Pirelli said three stops would be the best strategy to keep the cars starting outside the top ten on more durable tires from grabbing positions from the top qualifiers during tire stops. With a pit stop taking 22 seconds, the correct tire stop plan would put a trailing car out into clear air on new softs; that is unless someone could make their medium tires last unusually long.
