Although the degradation rate was low enough for a one-stop (medium/hard) to be optimum, those cars running the skinniest wings would still need some tyre management. This was perhaps particularly pertinent to Perez, out front and setting a hot enough pace to have pulled out 1.3s over Leclerc on the opening lap, the dust rising from the Red Bull’s diffuser and tyres as he blasted down the straight.
Eating Perez’s dust maybe wasn’t what Leclerc had imagined he’d be doing, but driving to his tyre temperatures while holding Verstappen at bay, he couldn’t initially keep Checo from pulling away, the gap out to 1.8s and 2.2s on subsequent laps.
What it also perhaps meant was that the rears on the Red Bull needed a bit more looking after than those on the Ferrari. Verstappen, following Leclerc, was being held to an initial pace between 0.4-0.6s slower than leader Perez.
It wasn’t too long before Perez was talking of his traction worsening. His race engineer Hugh Bird was telling him to ‘use his tools’, advising on diff settings etc.
But Checo’s communication with him seemed less than clear: frequent hesitations, occasional clarifying questions. The radio reception around this place isn’t great and probably didn’t help. But at one point when Bird advised ‘tyres 6’, Checo replied that he just didn’t know what that meant.
“We hit a lot of deg on that medium tyre after the virtual safety car,” Perez said. “So a few things to understand from that today.”
“I didn’t feel like I was hitting the tyre too hard,” Perez said, a little mystified. But he had, clearly.
“It was certainly right at the restart after the VSC that we lost the pace. We really dropped the pace massively.”
That communication problem may also have played a part in his staying out at the VSC. Had he come in, his over-worked mediums would have been ditched before any harm was done.
“I’m not the one deciding when to pit,” he said.
“Unfortunately we have certain communications in place that we know when to pit and when the window’s open – but a few things went wrong today.”
The other things that went wrong – but which made no difference – were a stuck front jack at his first stop, costing around 2s, and a broken wheel gun at a later stop taken when there was another VSC (for Kevin Magnussen’s broken-down Haas).
in the moment of the VSC being called, Red Bull in theory was perfectly placed – with Perez leading the race and Verstappen in third being able to react to whatever Leclerc did – to have a foot in each strategic camp. As recalled, the call came maybe 1s too late for Perez to respond. He was already past the white lines denoting the opening of the pit entry road.
Verstappen, 3s back, was instructed to do the opposite of Leclerc. So as the Ferrari peeled in, he – like Perez but for a different reason – stayed out.
Perez’s poor pace after apparently frying the tyres meant he could offer no resistance at all when Verstappen on much healthier rubber came charging through even before the VSC. Although Perez was told ‘no fighting’ he wasn’t about to. He was in no position to.