Red Bull principal Christian Horner felt their Miami win could have been challenged if Ferrari had have pitted under the Safety Car.
The first Miami Grand Prix had settled into a rather calm affair, Verstappen leading comfortably after making the overtake early on title rival Charles Leclerc.
But when the Safety Car was triggered, that opened the door for some drivers to roll the dice on strategy.
Red Bull pitted Sergio Perez for fresh medium tyres, but kept Verstappen out, while Ferrari also bypassed the chance to pit Leclerc or Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen went on to win the race, with Horner feeling that Ferrari let them off the hook a little bit by not taking that cheap stop for soft tyres.
Back-to-back in the USA! 🏆🇺🇸🏆 pic.twitter.com/hqMOLZFW7F
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 8, 2022
“After the Safety Car we were quite lucky that Ferrari didn’t pit and take on a new tyre for that,” Horner told Sky F1.
“Because they probably could have put on the soft tyre, so at least that neutralised things, but then once Charles was in the DRS we couldn’t shake him off.
“And Max, it’s so much pressure in that position that it’s just easy to lock a wheel and so on, and he kept it clean, he didn’t make any mistakes then gradually was able to break…it took him about five or six laps to break the DRS and then he was able to manage it from there.”
Red Bull put their advantage in a straight line on full display, but Ferrari, who were expected to be strong in the slower sections, could not quite hammer home that strength in the same way.
Horner said it was a clear tactic from the team and Verstappen to keep his right-front tyre in good condition, something which Leclerc could not do in the first stint, that allowing Verstappen to close up and overtake.
“In the early laps Max was just hanging with him and looking after that tyre, and that was always our tactic going into the race, look after the right-front and keep Charles under…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at News – PlanetF1…