Max Verstappen earned a rebuke from Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase at Spa for being concerned about the latter’s tyre tactics – Pirelli explains the reasons
Max Verstappen was also in his own league at the Belgian Grand Prix. Nevertheless, the Red Bull driver was reprimanded by his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase during the race, who was concerned about the world champion’s tyre tactics in particular.
But from the beginning: Starting from sixth place, Verstappen fought his way to the front early on and took the lead from team-mate Sergio Perez on the 17th of 44 race laps.
When both completed their final pit stops, the Dutchman had a lead of 8.9 seconds. He then turned an outlap on new softs that was a second quicker than Perez’s and then set the fastest lap, which was only beaten by Lewis Hamilton to end the race.
Lambiase had earlier instructed Verstappen to deliver a “loose outlap”, and reacted appropriately sourly. “You used a lot of tyres on your outlap, Max, I’m not sure that was sensible,” he reprimanded him over the radio.
After Verstappen had set the fastest race lap, Lambiase added. “This tyre had quite a bit of degradation in the first stint,” he noted, urging his driver to “use your head a bit more. “
Pirelli expert Isola explains the risks
Red Bull’s concern about tyre management was no accident. As Pirelli’s Mario Isola explained, “When you push on new tyres at the beginning of the stint, there are two potential risks. One is to trigger graining because the tyre is still, let’s say, cold or at least not ready.”
“Then there is the risk that the tyre compound, because of its mechanical resistance, starts to break at that temperature and the graining starts,” Isola said.
“Or you risk increasing wear because when the tyre is new and the thickness of the compound is even higher, you generate more heat in the compound and then you have more thermal degradation. That’s why they manage the tyres in the first laps, to increase the temperature in a good way. “
Isola, however, also insists that when it comes to tyre management, he is convinced Red Bull have “a good margin” at the moment. “Basically they are doing what they want. Sometimes you see Max controlling the pace and when he pushes he can go a second or more faster than the others. “
Verstappen: Better tyres without traffic
Verstappen himself said he had “strained his tyres a bit too much” when following Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the start of the first stint. “As soon as I changed to the medium, I felt the car was in a much better window and I could go much faster,” said the race winner.
“From then on, the car really started to come alive. It was really fun to drive and once I was in the lead I could really take care of the tyres. But then, of course, it started to rain.”
“So you had to slow down the pace a bit in some places. When the rain stopped, we switched back to the soft tyres and the car was well balanced again. That shows how much better you can drive with the tyres when you’re not stuck in traffic. It was another great race. “
