You asked us a lot of good questions about the French Grand Prix and Formula 1 as a whole. We put the best and most frequently asked questions to our Formula 1 reporter Joost Nederpelt and here are the answers.
It is striking that Max Verstappen drives so far ahead of the Mercedes and Sergio Pérez ends up behind them. Is the difference in result between Verstappen and Pérez purely in the difference in qualities of the person (combined with a bit of luck/bad luck?) or are the Red Bull cars not completely 100 percent identical in terms of technology?
“The Red Bull cars are basically the same, although of course both drivers choose their own set-up. Let’s start with that Pérez is simply a lesser driver than Verstappen.”
“In addition, Red Bull has further developed the car throughout the season, so that it better suits Verstappen’s driving style. That makes sense: Verstappen is their best iron in the fire and has also been entitled to change the direction since his performance and world title.” of development somewhat to his advantage. Pérez is also a driver who is simply not fast everywhere. He has weak circuits. Verstappen hardly has any.”
It is said that the Red Bull does not suit Pérez. Which driver is most like Verstappen in terms of driving style?
“Verstappen is a driver who likes a ‘pointy’ car. That means he wants a lot of grip on the front wheels and that he can handle what the rear does. I think Charles Leclerc has largely the same wishes. The Ferrari is “also a ‘pointy’ car whose rear sometimes wants to break out (as we could see on Sunday). That’s why Carlos Sainz had a hard time with this car, although it is a bit more adaptive than, for example, Pérez.”
Why did Pérez have so much trouble getting the most out of the car?
He didn’t really know that either. I think it has to do with the Red Bull’s set-up, which was focused on top speed. It then demands a lot from a driver to still be fast in the twisty parts. Verstappen succeeded very well, but Pérez did not.
Mercedes went off the track five times. Why weren’t they punished?
“Not only did Mercedes go off track five times. The track limits were not enforced everywhere. Where they were not enforced, Russell went off track a few times, as did Pérez, Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc and all the other drivers “We shouldn’t start thinking that only Mercedes does bad things. That’s nonsense.”
Could Sainz have redeemed his five-second penalty during the virtual safety car? And if so, what consequences did this have for the stand?
Yes, if Sainz had stopped and redeemed the five seconds, it would have been a small advantage for him. But by then he had already made his second stop and already paid the penalty.
Will Red Bull appeal fourth place due to race management error?
Until now we have not heard anything about it, but it was remarkable.
After openly blaming Leclerc for the resignation, has Ferrari ever made any justification or explanation for the mess it caused with Sainz?
“I don’t know if it was a mess, at least the strategy. The way in which the consultations were held was of course very chaotic. But the strategy itself could be explained. Ferrari thought Sainz could never drive five seconds away from George Russell and Perez, and decided therefore err on the side of caution and make the stop.”
“That yielded a point for the fastest lap anyway, with the position where Sainz, according to Ferrari’s estimate and due to the time penalty, had already finished in any case.”
It was a lot about the tires. But how can a driver or team see exactly how good the tires are and how many laps he can still drive. Especially this question about the discussion Sainz/Ferrari who wanted to go on yellow (and why not)? Aren’t there drivers who had already driven a lot of laps on yellow?
“Almost all drivers who started on yellow stopped under the safety car, so there was no further driving on yellow for that long. The team can of course see from the lap times, sector times and GPS data whether a car is losing speed.”
“In addition, there is the input from the drivers. There is also data from the engine, which can be seen, for example, if there is more wheel spin from the corners. And on tires that come back into the pits, they can see how much wear there has been. There are indicators on the rubber for that.”
How can it be that, between two so different philosophies of car design, Ferrari and Red Bull are so close in speed?
“That is a good question and difficult to answer. Especially in France the teams got their lap times very differently, but they were close to each other. Of course they also look at each other, but I think it is a form of coincidence that Red Bull and Ferrari are so close together on so many tracks.”
“Lately they are also growing closer together, with more top speed for the Ferrari especially (although that was certainly not the case at Paul Ricard). Let’s be happy that they are so evenly matched, because that makes for a good season .”
Why does Pérez say his car is being tuned to Verstappen. Can it only be adjusted to one driver?
“The team is completely free in how they set up the cars and in which direction they develop, as long as that is of course within the technical rules.”
How is it possible that Russell passed Pérez so quickly after the restart? At that time, did he stick to the margin he had when the virtual safety car went into effect? And can Red Bull still protest against that?
“There was a malfunction in the virtual safety car system of the race management, which had to be reset. Pérez was the victim of this. The message when the virtual safety car would end was displayed incorrectly for him.”
“The drivers have to stick to a delta time, but Perez didn’t see this time on his screen. So he had to gamble a bit and extra brakes not to go too fast, while Russell was able to line him up. He immediately went on the attack then the virtual safety car was over, while Pérez was still braking to avoid going too fast. A remarkable situation that the FIA will certainly get to the bottom of.”
Verstappen’s engineer passes on information to him. Can you explain the technical terms such as “stat 9” and “motor 6”? What kind of information does he keep giving Verstappen?
“It’s not stat, but strat. That’s short for strategy, so the strategy used for the engine. They have a whole range of modes that are preset for certain scenarios. They mainly have to do with how much petrol the engine consumes and how much energy is used from the hybrid system. For example, there are different ‘strats’ for the start, pit stops, saving fuel, attacking, cruising, charging the battery etc. The drivers have a large rotary knob on their handlebars with all these numbers, so if the engineer gives a strat number, the driver set on the steering wheel.”
What exactly caused Leclerc to drop out?
“There was no technical problem. That assumption was because Leclerc started over his accelerator after the crash. But that was because he wanted to back up and the car didn’t want to cooperate. So he stepped on the gas, but the engine didn’t make a difference. It had to do with the gearbox. The mistake itself was the result of going too hard through the corner, a rear end breaking out and Leclerc’s inability to correct that.”