Sunday: Red Bull betrayed by its tyres and strategy
The Red Bull drivers ultimately had to settle for 4th and 7th places in the race after starting from 1st and 4th positions on the grid, as the RB8s consumed their tires faster than expected. While the one-stop strategy gamble for Vettel did not pay off, Mark Webber found himself stuck behind drivers who had attempted—and succeeded with—this one-stop strategy.
Sebastian Vettel – 4th:
« It was a tough race today. We found ourselves in 3rd place quite far from Lewis. He decided to pit again, but Fernando and I made the decision to stay on track. I felt quite comfortable with the tires and, obviously, we were hoping to regain the lost positions, but it turned out that pitting again was the right decision. We decided, a few laps from the end, to stop – a stop here is not long, about 15 seconds – and in the end, it was the right decision.
Before the stop, we were three or four seconds behind Fernando, but we finished 6 seconds ahead of him. It was a good decision if we consider what we could have lost with only eight laps to go. It’s easy to analyze afterward and know everything, but I think we learned a lot today and saw that the race could be interesting until the last lap.
Overall, it’s a good weekend. We calmly gained momentum and had good qualifications. In the race, we might have lost a bit of that advantage.
We also have a new winner today, I think Lewis deserved to win, there’s no doubt about it, but we learned more and we will take a step forward in Valencia.
Mark Webber – 7th:
« I knew it would be a bit confusing today, but not as much as this. During the first ten laps, we encountered a small problem with the engine that we had to manage, but then I found the rhythm. We stopped and came back out behind those who were only making one stop. It’s difficult here: if you attack to try to pass, you kill your tires, but if you wait, then you end up on the same strategy and finish behind them no matter what.
I think we were sometimes fast today and it’s good that we finished in the points. In hindsight, we could have adopted a different strategy, but it’s easy to say that now and I’ve experienced worse than today.
