A bold tire strategy that paid off for Red Bull?
As is often the case at the end of the season, the Austrian team took a risk by entering Q3 on harder tires, in this case super-tendres. It now remains to be seen whether this choice will be crowned with success in tomorrow's race...
Even the Mercedes drivers did not take such a risk: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were the only drivers to progress from Q2 to Q3 on super-soft tires! As a result, the two representatives of the Red Bull will start the last race of the season with more durable tires. Daniel Ricciardo secured the third fastest time while Max Verstappen could only manage sixth, behind the two Ferraris.
A choice far from utopian for Christian Horner
The team principal himself defended this choice in front of the journalists. According to him, it wasn’t that bold in the end: «We made the decision this morning, after FP3. But it was a low-risk choice! We knew we would easily pass with this compound. Daniel secured the best possible position for the start, so we’ll see if it works as planned during the race. »
The team director was disappointed for Max Verstappen: « It’s a shame that Max couldn’t capitalize on his advantage, he was ahead (compared to the Ferraris) but lost control in the eleventh corner. On the other hand, Daniel delivered a fantastic lap, more than a tenth ahead to snatch the position from Kimi. »
He now hopes that Ricciardo will be competitive against the Mercedes drivers. He might even attribute the entire suspense of the title race to his team: « It would be great for the excitement of this race if we could deliver a strong performance! If we get a good start and manage to slot in between those two guys, it would be very exciting! We have to hope that the tires are in good condition. We saw degradation on the ultra-softs, Daniel was very fast on the race stints yesterday. Mercedes always has incredible pace, but if we can flex our muscles: who knows what might happen? »
Verstappen will have to get rid of both Ferraris
Less lively than his teammate, Verstappen is still confident from his sixth place: « I have to move forward, the pace has been there since the beginning of the weekend. I will actually start last among the leading teams (Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari), I’m not really happy, but for sure, it will be an interesting race tomorrow! »
The hero of the last race in Brazil also wanted to justify the tire choice: « The ultra-soft is quite bad on long stints. I did a long stint (in FP3), when the temperatures were high, the super-soft tire behaved rather well. We will see tomorrow. If you have the same tires as the others, then you will just be content to follow! »
Not happy, but the only way is forward. With our different tyre strategy it will be an interesting race tomorrow. #keeppushing #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/D0Z0LatUvQ
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) 26 novembre /f1/actualite/21574-une-douzieme-pole-pour-hamilton-en-2016-les-reactions-du-top-3-qualificatif-.html
Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will be the only two drivers in the top 10 to start on super-soft tires. On a track where overtaking remains difficult, the choice by the quadruple world champion team is bold. The two drivers can hope to complete around twenty laps in the first stint before changing their tires at the first pit stop. For information, the longest stint observed during free practice (with super-soft tires) was by Valtteri Bottas yesterday, who completed 22 laps in his Williams. Esteban Gutiérrez was the most enduring with the ultra-soft tires: 20 laps.
Even though the degradation of the tires seems to be very well managed by the RB12, the drop in temperatures between the start at sunset and the finish in the heart of the Abu Dhabi night will have to be managed. A transition that seems particularly more favorable to Ferrari. But all hopes are allowed for Red Bull. Especially since ahead of them, two drivers will be under maximum pressure…
