Red Bull’s chief strategy officer, Hannah Schmitz, has explained how there was a split within the team over whether to call Max Verstappen for his first pit stop under the safety car on lap 7 of the Qatar GP – before ultimately standing by her decision that would hand the Dutchman victory at Losail.
Red Bull and McLaren had just seconds to decide whether to call in Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris for their first pit stop on lap 7 of yesterday’s Losail race, in order to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the safety car deployment following the Hulkenberg-Gasli accident.
McLaren made the decision not to pit either driver at that point. This decision cost them a victory that was expected to be easy for Piastri, as well as Lando Norris’ place on the podium.
On the contrary, Red Bull caught up and called Verstappen for his first pit stop on lap 7. The Dutchman returned – due to the slow pace of the safety car – behind the two McLarens, and from then on he won the race because Piastri-Norris now had to make two mandatory pit stops (as imposed by the FIA, due to the intense tire stress on this track) while the Dutchman only made one.
With all drivers except Piastre-Norris and Esteban Ocon making their first pit stops on lap 7, McLaren’s Andrea Stella and Jacques Brown later admitted that their decision was wrong.
However, Red Bull also came close to making the same strategic mistake, as the team’s chief strategist, Hannah Schmitz, revealed: “Before the race, we knew that lap 7 was the first window for a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car, and that was the plan. To pit with both cars.
The advantage of a Safety Car pit stop is huge when you have to make two stops anyway. For us it was self-evident. And, from what it seemed, for most people in the pits it was the same,” Schmitz told Viaplay.
She continued: “But on the lap before [Verstappen] entered we heard ‘McLaren are staying out’. On the pit wall they were saying ‘are you sure? Do you really want us to enter?’ and I was like ‘Yes, I’m sure!’.
I was convinced it was the right thing to do. And when I saw everyone else entering I said ‘okay, we’re covered’. Even if it took away some flexibility for the second stop, the time gain was huge,” added Schmitz.
When asked about McLaren’s choice, Schmitz said it could be a result of the philosophy of treating drivers equally – which sometimes slows down decision-making.
“Maybe. It’s a difficult situation. They clearly want to be fair to both of them. And we were able to take advantage of that. It’s difficult for them. They also have a lot of speed compared to the other cars. Maybe they thought they would build a gap again for the pit stop or they were afraid of the long 25-lap stints. I’m not inside McLaren, but that’s possible,” concluded Hanna Schmitz.
