Verstappen stroms with a one-stop medium-hard strategy to Styrian GP victory
Championship leader Max Verstappen stormed to a commanding victory at the Styrian Grand Prix, using a one-stop medium-hard strategy in the 71-lap race at the Red Bull Ring.
Despite the consistent forecasts of rain for the weekend and some dark clouds towards the end of the grand prix, once again wet weather didn’t materialise throughout the 71 laps. Instead, conditions were warm and dry: 31 degrees ambient and 47 degrees on track at the start.
The Styrian Grand Prix was on paper a one-stop strategy due to the historical data and Friday's long run analysis, and that turned out to be the right prediction in yesterday's race. The majority of the drivers committed themselves to a one-stop strategy despite the heat.
Verstappen took his second consecutive win and the fourth one on the trot for Red Bull, thanks to a one-stop medium-hard strategy from pole position in Austria. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who finished runner-up, followed the same strategy before making a second stop on the penultimate lap to fit softs and gain the extra championship point for fastest lap.
In fact, all the drivers stopped once apart from four two-stoppers: Hamilton, Perez, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and Williams driver Nicholas Latifi. However, Hamilton stopped twice only for the already mentioned reason while Leclerc's first stop came on Lap 1 after an early collision with Pierre Gasly.
Pirelli nominated the trio of C2, C3 and C4 compounds for the first Spielberg round, the Styrian Grand Prix while the tyre choice will be a step softer for this weekend’s second Red Bull Ring race.
The soft compound was a less favoured rubber with only eight drivers running it in the race. Hamilton mounted the red-walled compound with just two laps to the chequered flag to set the fastest lap on the final tour. Six drivers were forced to begin the race on the C4 after qualifying for Q3 on the red-banded compound. McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the longest stint on the C4 compound with the Bristol-born notching up 31 laps on the softest rubber at the beginning of the race.
The medium rubber was the most versatile compound with a wider pit stop window, which is what made it such a popular choice outside the top 10 of the grid. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo completed the longest distance, exactly 41 laps on the medium tyre.
The P Zero White hard was the key tyre for the second stint, also considering the high temperatures. In fact, all the drivers apart from two used the hard tyre during the second stint, whether they started on soft or medium. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was the only driver to start on the hard, going for 36 laps on it before switching to medium.
Commenting on Round 8 of the 23-race 2021 F1 season, Pirelli's Head of F1 and Car Racing Mario Isola, said: "The medium compound was the best one to start the race with, and that’s why it was chosen by almost all the drivers outside the top 10 on the grid; with seven of the top 10 starters obliged to begin the race on the soft. This all translated into a big split of strategies at the start, and as a consequence that variation continued throughout the race, with four different strategies used in the top five at the end. For the second stint, the hard was the best option.
"Once again, the anticipated rain didn’t materialise and instead conditions were warm, with track temperatures up to 49 degrees, which obviously influenced tyre behaviour. Nonetheless, we saw some long stints, with more than 40 laps run on the medium and hard compounds, as well as plenty of speed on the soft compound, which allowed Hamilton to take the fastest lap right at the finish," Isola concluded.
