Ferrari had expected Red Bull to run into tyre problems in Jeddah, but a lesser degradation gave Max Verstappen the win
Ferrari’s winning tactics didn’t quite work out in Saudi Arabia. Charles Leclerc had surrendered the lead to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen shortly before the end in Jeddah, as the Dutchman used superior top speed and DRS to get past the Ferrari.
Red Bull had gone for more top speed with a flatter wing and knew they could play to that strength on the straights. Ferrari had deliberately decided against a flatter wing, expecting more problems for Red Bull, but that did not prove to be the case.
“We saw that Max had driven with a bit more downforce on Friday and then reduced that a bit,” said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto. “Whereas we decided to stay with the higher downforce level because we thought that would be crucial for tyre degradation. “
Ferrari thought Red Bull would be at a disadvantage in the race when it came to tyres. “But in the race the tyre degradation was very low,” said Binotto, who sees this as the key to why Ferrari lost the duel in the end.
“But it’s always a compromise. But I think we also proved that this choice can also be good, because it was a long race. In the end, it’s about details that can decide a race,” said the Italian.
After two races of the season, Ferrari is ahead in the overall standings with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz with both drivers. This means that the Reds are also ahead in the constructors’ championship. They have already scored 78 points, with Mercedes following in second with 38 points.
