How Verstappen beat Mercedes on merit at Silverstone

The 70th anniversary Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen fear Mercedes win every race of the season in what felt like a classic two-stop race of old.

Here’s a look at why the race evolved so much.

How did Red Bull beat Mercedes?

The simple answer, of course, is that Max Verstappen was faster than Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in 52 rounds. But in the context of a season dominated by Mercedes, and on a circuit where Mercedes did not look unbelievable seven days ago (until a tire error of the last round), that is not a very satisfactory answer.

That changed between the British Grand Prix, in which Mercedes had the fastest car at Silverstone, and the 70th anniversary Grand Prix, in which Red Bull had the fastest car at Silverstone?

The initial analysis suggested that there were three major factors:

1 The tire connections were a step softer this week

2 The tire pressure was higher

3 The temperatures of the track were several degrees warmer

Those three factors seemed to affect Mercedes much more than Red Bull. They manifested themselves in extreme blows on the rear tires, to the extent that the set that came from the two cars at the end of the race had drawn a clear line in the middle, with rubber on one side was missing while it was still thick the other.

It’s not yet clear why it affected Mercedes so badly, but in trying to protect the front tires, which were the problem area last week, it looks like Mercedes has exposed itself to the back. The result was an extremely fragile bond that both Hamilton and Bottas had to nurse to the extreme to prevent it from falling apart.

At times, Verstappen was nearly two seconds faster than the Mercedes in a straight battle, and except when it pressed at the beginning and end of stints, Mercedes had no answer for that. Red Bull, who saw some mild blistering but nothing on the scale of his rivals, was envious of the problem and told Verstappen to back early in the race so as not to miss the chance. But it’s a testament to Verstappen’s skill and race that he sensed the opportunity early on, telling his team “I will not sit back like a grandmother”.

This was a race won honestly and squarely by Red Bull and although there were tempting circumstances, full credit would have to go to the team and Verstappen.

A story of two Ferraris

As was often the case this season, there was very good news and very bad news for Ferrari. The very good news was Charles Leclerc, who once again went under the radar but produced a standout drive to fourth position. The key to his race was to execute a one-stop strategy perfectly enabling him to effectively cruise home in the final stages of the race. Barec’s clumsy Styrian Grand Prix clash with his teammate, Leclerc has gone above Ferrari in saving good results from this terrible season.

On the flip side was again a certain Sebastian Vettel. We asked what on earth happened to him in our qualifying round-up on Saturday night and unfortunately the four-time world champion gave no reason for us to change our tone 24 hours later.

His form this year can be compared to a well-known TV series that suddenly, and dramatically, went down …

Right now, Vettel is like last GoT season. You remember – vividly – how good the show was, but it just gets worse and worse every episode and nothing makes sense

– Nate Saunders (@ natesaundersF1) August 9, 2020

Vettel’s spin in the opening moments was pathetic – there’s no other way to put it. A modern F1 car would not have to do that in the hands of a four-time world champion. It added to a long list of unforeseen mistakes Vettel has made over the past few seasons, a list that will unfortunately shake up any legacy he leaves behind as he walks away from the championship.

Like he had last weekend, Vettel spent the rest of the race fighting in midfield. He did not have a good explanation as to why he had so much trouble getting a grip on the SF1000.

Vettel’s quotes after the race were surprising. The German, who told the team during the race that he had “messaged” his strategy by releasing him from a pit stop in traffic, doubled down on those critics by saying that the pit wall’s decisions “made no sense”. “.

A few hours later, the media spoke at Ferrari’s virtual conference a few hours later, possibly with the benefit of a slightly cooler head, Vettel stopped short of fully opening a Pandora’s Box of collusion theories.

“It’s apparently not the best run for me at the moment, but I trust the team I have around me and also everyone in the garage,” he said when asked if the team sacrificed his race to Leclerc to help. “So yes, I’m pretty open minded.

“I do not want to touch on any of this. I’m pretty open to the next race and I do not think it can get much worse from where I am, so it’s going to get better.”

Vettel leaves the fifth round of the championship sitting 13th in the championship. That’s an unbelievable fact for a man who will statistically come down as one of F1’s fierce graces.

What happened to Hulkenberg?

It seemed too good to be true, and in the end it was. After securing a third place on the roster in Formula One, Nico Hulkenberg finished in the race on Sunday and finished seventh in the flag.

Given the difficult conditions of racing for the first time in more than eight months, it was still an impressive achievement, and should probably be rewarded with an even better result.

Hulkenberg rode fifth ahead of teammate Lance Stroll and behind the one-stop Charles Leclerc as he picked up a hard vibration of the blisters on his rear tires. It was enough to force him to make a third pit stop, which eventually dropped him to seventh when he was passed by Alex Albon and Stroll.

“The first half of the grand prix was apparently very good and we were pretty much on target to keep up on P4,” Hulkenberg said. “But then Charles was very strong on his one-stop.

“I do not know, in my last stint about the premiere [hard tyre], the second stint on the prime, which looks like a completely different set of tires, not the same grip.

“Then I picked up some blisters on the rear axle and therefore quite large vibrations that eventually forced us to stop from this tire and then three stops then apparently on P7.”

That, not the fairytale return Hilkenberg’s Saturday performance promised, but still a very impressive result.

Racing Point is confident that Sergio Perez will return to the car in Spain next weekend, but Hulkenberg will remain on standby in case the coronavirus is not completely removed from Perez’s system.

What’s more, Hulkenberg’s performance at Silverstone will put him in contention for all future replacement roles that may become available this year, not to mention a return to a full-time race drive if a team is needed. for a change for 2021.