Vettel: One-stop strategy worked because Ferrari had 'nothing to lose'
- Published on 17 Aug 2020 15:30
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- By: Coilin Higgins
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel has explained why he attempted to finish the race on his worn soft tyres as opposed to pitting a second time, as he felt the team had nothing to lose by trying.
Vettel came home in seventh position after a long first stint on the medium tyres moved the German up from eleventh to as high as fifth when he pitted for his only stop onto the soft tyres.
Vettel was unhappy when the team asked him to try going to the end on the softest compound due to the Ferrari driver not getting a reply to asking his team the situation earlier in the race, but told the team he would go for it regardless.
Vettel managed nearly forty laps on the softest compound, almost double that of what the cars managed on the original strategy seen by most cars during the race.
He would come home an eventual seventh, while teammate Charles Leclerc retired after his engine cut out during the race at turn fifteen.
"Yeah sure, it's quite simple, we didn't have anything to lose," Vettel said.
"We were P11. I think we were trying to offset until the end of the race. Obviously we were catching the cars in front when they pitted for their second stop but I was not in a rush to catch them and managing the tyres then I was told to push which I did.
"Then I was told to make it to the end or asked to make it to the end and then I said 'well, you could have asked that three laps before,' because I asked what was the target and how long you want to go so I could look after my tyres.
"I said we try to make it. Obviously, the last five laps were difficult and it helped that we got lapped, to be honest so I think we took that risk because he had nothing to lose but it did pay off."
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Replies (8)
Login to replyessaouira311
Posts: 158
Yes, Seb. That's exactly the way they treat you: they have nothing to lose.
Get out of there asap.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
You do realize that, Ferrari did not extend his contract with them for 2021 right? and not racing voluntarily would cut his pay by millions.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I think it worked because Seb was outstanding at taking care of those tyres. That change of strategy had every reason to backfire.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
yeah, it was a move few people could've salvaged the way Seb did.
JuJuHound
Posts: 352
Everybody are praising Seb for great result finishing on P7... it's just shows how ridiculous year Ferrari offered for Seb and how low expectations are built around him now... it's terrifying
Snooky
Posts: 121
No, the position he got on that strategy is what impressed people, dragging the soft tyres on for as long as he did after initially being told to push was a great job. Every other driver ended up struggling on tyres after initially pushing. Low expectation around him is based on the car lately not him as a driver, he’s Charles is starting better than him but Seb finished very strongly
Alonzo
Posts: 66
Good strategy, but he wasn't the only one trying it... Good result (i guess) but Vettel seems to have lost it, yes, this year's car is not any good, but Seb had good cars in 2019 and the year before... But he Keeps spinning out on his own and making life difficult for himself...
A lot of people criticized Ferrari for last week's strategy, forgetting that that Seb compromised the strategy by spinning out (again!) on his own right at the start...
Funny how he keeps getting a pass because of something he did 7-8 years ago with the best car on the grid by far and a mediocre teammate, as soon as Ricciardo got to RB he ran away from the team...
Leclerc got to Ferrari on his second year, beat him straight away... He should probably take a sabbatical, may be get his head right, it's just not working out right now....
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
it was and wasn't good strategy: A one-stopper could've worked, but Ferrari originally intended for Seb to two-stop. Seb had already by then asked if he should try to one-stop, but Ferrari insisted he should push, , so when the call came from Ferrari, who realized the stop would be too costly, that they should try to stay out, Seb had already used more tyres than optimal per the team's original intent. Lesson here is, had Ferrari not bollocksed it up, Seb could've finished better than p7 here.