Perez was never going to win the spanish GP. Max would have chased him down and passed him. The difference in race pace was enormous. The problem is that it would have come at the cost of tire life and car temperatures which could have put Verstappen in a difficult spot with the shoddy reliability they had to that point. This is exactly what Horner said after the race.Shal_Leg16 wrote: ↑16 Dec 2022, 21:13im not sure that's how it works in F1.
for eg. - RB asking Perez to let Max win Spanish Gp. now one might say at that point it was too early to set team orders but imagine a close season like 2021 where title was won by just 5 points. that's when even these early calls make difference. RB know how its done hence they dont waste time.
People get too worked up about the inevitable. Fortunately RB have the sense to expedite the inevitable rather than risking both cars and wasting track time. Every lap that Verstappen spends behind Perez is 3-4 tenths per lap of race time given away to chasing pack. Christian Horner is not indecisive and see's the big picture. It's a quality that Binotto lacked when he was unable to manage the Monaco and British GPs.