[Auto]Verstappen dresses as a strategist to defeat Mercedes

[SougarLord]

In the fifth race of the 2020 season, the strength of Mercedes fell. He did it thanks to the mischief of Red Bull, who in view of the difficulties of the 'silver arrows' with the wear of their tires on the asphalt of Silverstone (United Kingdom) opted for Verstappen to do his second qualifying round (Q2) with hard tires to go out with them in the race.

The impetuous Max disguised himself as a strategist ... And won. He came out of fourth place, took the lead and held on with the starting wheels until the intermission of the test. He took as much distance as possible while the Mercedes struggled to conserve their tires, and protected himself by changing the tires when the Finn Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) threatened him passing by workshops. He imitated and surpassed him in a couple of curves, and went smoothly towards victory, to the chagrin of the Nordic, who came off the pole and finished third, and of the leader, the British Lewis Hamilton, who came back to be second.

The tires that starred in last Sunday's test with punctures turned the second round at Silverstone into a hilarious race that puts a bit of pepper on the Formula One World Championship, of which Hamilton is a solid leader (107 points) but in which Verstappen is already 30 seconds behind (77).

The Dutchman cooked his victory from the start, as before the first corner he had removed the German Nico Hülkenberg (Racing Point), the surprise of the classification with his third place on Saturday. Hamilton went for Bottas, but the Finnish poleman held his onslaught.

Consistent with what had been seen over the weekend, the departure of German Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari was catastrophic. The four-time world champion, who started eleventh, reacted badly in the braking of the first corner and lost control of the rear axle of his car, which did a half-spin and was narrowly missed by Sainz and Kvyat. The role left him in last place and forced him to try the comeback.

Meanwhile, Verstappen with the hard tire was getting closer and closer to Hamilton's Mercedes, which was trying to protect its medium tire as much as possible. Around the tenth lap he had it less than a second and the Dutchman could sharpen the knife, even against the advice of his own team, which begged him to delay the attack a bit. "It's the only chance we're going to have," replied the brave Red Bull driver.

 

Hamilton suffered with his rear tires. "They're finished," he told the team over the radio, seconds before Verstappen began to attack him.

 

                                                     

 

Mercedes reacted by sending Bottas to the workshops to protect him from Verstappen's momentum, a very brief passage through workshops to put on the hard tire and finish sixth, behind the Racing Points and Renault of the Australian Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton came in immediately and Verstappen took the lead when he was running lap 14.

 

The World Championship leader came out behind Bottas and the Ferrari of Monegasque Charles Leclerc, sixth just ahead of Carlos Sainz, another who had opted for the hard tire and who took advantage of it to climb positions. The Monegasque's Ferrari, who was still guarding the initial tire, was no obstacle for Hamilton, who pulled it off effortlessly.

 

Verstappen was starting to be a nightmare in the Mercedes garage, where they feared that their strategy would go to one stop. Meanwhile, the Dutchman scored a quick lap and allowed himself the luxury of wavering in radio communications. "My wheels feel good," Max told his engineers.

 

For his part, Sainz, who was fourth until then, entered to change the tires and returned to meet the McLaren mole this season: the stops. The Madrilenian saw how a connection was hooked with his McLaren, which delayed his departure, and then he had to brake before leaving the garage because a Renault passed. A disaster for the papaya orange car, which after the pass was twelfth on medium tires, between Ricciardo and Vettel and far from where it should be.

 

When the middle of the race came, Verstappen was still flying, putting 18 seconds on Bottas, enough time to make the stop. Red Bull fitted him with medium tires and he came out second, just behind the Finn, who he barely passed in a couple of corners, to the applause of the mechanics in his workshop.

 

Smelling the victory, Verstappen put the direct, while between eighth and eleventh place there was a beautiful battle in which Ricciardo miscalculated and went off-track, while Vettel pressed Sainz mercilessly. He did not win the position on the track, but he did win at the stops, with a good maneuver from Ferrari and despite the fact that this time McLaren did not do such a bad job. It was not much use to any of them, because they finished twelfth and thirteenth.

 

On lap 33, Mercedes took the initiative by calling Bottas to the workshops and Red Bull reacted by doing the same with Verstappen, so they both returned to the track in the same order, with Hamilton in front, suffering with his tires and constantly asking questions. for them to the workshop. With 15 laps to go, would Mercedes be able to gamble and try to reach the end with them?

 

The unknown was resolved five laps later, when Mercedes called Hamilton to the workshops to put hard tires on him. The Briton came out fourth, behind Leclerc. At Red Bull they saw the sky open at that moment and Verstappen knew he had victory in his pocket.

 

Hamilton came out ready to do ten qualifying laps, chaining his best times and including a very tight overtaking Leclerc to get on the podium. The insatiable World Cup leader also went for Bottas, who was also suffering with his tires, and ended up taking second place.

 

But nothing altered the joy of Verstappen, who broke the Mercedes dictatorship and became the second-placed in the World Cup - 30 points behind Hamilton, yes - thanks to changing his momentum for a calculating and successful strategy.