Chapter 455 - 2021 French Grand Prix

"Based on the data we gathered today, we are leaning heavily towards it being a one-stop race, assuming the ten percent chance of rain doesn’t materialize. We are adjusting our planning accordingly..." One of the strategy department’s engineers explained during the post-FP2 session briefing.

Fatih, who had been listening silently with his team headphones, raised his hand just as they were about to move to the next point.

"Fatih, go ahead," Franz Tost said, giving the stage to Fatih as everyone in the room turned to him.

"I believe a two-stop is the best option for the race," Fatih said, getting directly to the point.

He had spent quite some time in the simulation thinking about what he needed to do to have a chance of outperforming the car’s pace limitation.

Knowing there was not going to be even a single yellow flag, VSC, or safety car during the race meant he couldn’t pull the same under-fueling stunt he had pulled in Azerbaijan. If he let things go, he would be left having to deal with the pace deficit their car had against the Red Bulls and Mercedes, and if that happened, the best possible position he could get at the end of the race would be P5 at most.

But that was not something he was willing to accept, so he went for the only option he had: have more grip, which would allow him to push more than the rest, giving him a better pace with a two-stop strategy than what he would have with just a one-stop.

"What is your reasoning for that conclusion?" Marco Perrone, the head of strategy, asked as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table in front of him to support his chin.

Although driver input was usually accepted, he was taking Fatih’s input quite seriously, considering the gamble he had recommended for the Azerbaijan GP.

What Perrone and Tost had thought would be a teaching moment for the young driver turned out exactly as he had theorized, which increased the weight his suggestions carried. But it wasn’t to the level where they would go along with them without first understanding the reasoning behind them.

"I believe it is because of the increase in PSI requirements for the rear tires," Fatih said, referencing the technical directive the FIA had released following the Azerbaijan race, where the teams were now required to increase the rear tire PSI by 2 as a precaution to avoid the same mess that had happened in Baku.

"With the increase in PSI, the amount of the tire that will be touching the track will be reduced, and the remaining patches will now have to shoulder that. I felt that during the two FP sessions, but I believe the situation could be worsened if there is rain ahead of time that clears the rubber on the track.

Additionally, I believe the undercut here is very powerful, so pitting first during our first pit stop should allow us to gain positions if the cars ahead stick to their one-stop strategy."

As Fatih explained his reasoning, Marco Perrone nodded his head, going along with the logic until Fatih was done. Only then did he finally speak.

"The reasoning sounds sound, but our simulation, which you participated in, shows that the track requires at least a 1.5-second tire-pace delta to make an on-track pass. On top of that, each pit stop costs around 24 seconds, and if we add the time lost by having cold tires at the start of the out-lap, that brings it to around 28 seconds lost.

Suppose you do a two-stopper, that brings the time lost to fifty-six seconds, while everyone else loses only 28 seconds if they go for a one-stop. As for the rain and such, that is not guaranteed to happen," Perrone said as a counterargument, feeling slight disappointment that this strategy was not on the same level as the one from Azerbaijan.

"I disagree with that outlook," Fatih, however, didn’t back down.

"Even if rain is not in the equation, the simulation has yet to take into consideration the increase in sliding due to the increase in PSI. As for the lost time on two pit stops, that would all be counteracted by being on fresher compounds while everyone else is on dead tires.

From that, I’m confident the pace gain will be more than two seconds a lap, which should be more than what is needed for an on-track overtake," he said, not planning on accepting the counterargument because he knew the team needed to agree with him in order to modify the practice part of the plan to retain additional compounds for the race.

"We operate and base our decisions on data, and all of the data we have points to it being a clear one-stop race and nothing indicating that a two-stop is faster. We will take a careful look at it, but we will not be planning around it at the moment," Perrone said, seeming to have made a decision.

"If it is a risky and unwelcome strategy at the moment, how about doing it for my side? All I need is to have brand-new hard and medium tires for race day and the medium used in qualifying. If it is not viable for race day, then it is a waste of a tire, but if it is viable, it is good to have," Fatih relented, knowing that it was going to rain the morning of race day and the track would change completely.

Along with the other reasons he had given them, a two-stopper would be faster than a one-stop, as it was the strategy Verstappen used to win the race, clinching it from Hamilton.

"That is once again unfair for Gasly, as his responsibility will increase to gather data if we do that," Perrone said, pointing at Gasly, who didn’t seem too happy to be left to pick up the slack. The same had happened last week, but since it ended with a race win, he couldn’t complain. That didn’t mean he was going to just let it keep happening again and again.

Fatih, upon hearing this, paused to think for a moment before he turned to Gasly and said, "How about this? If it doesn’t work, to compensate for the increase in workload on his end, I will give him a tow in two races of his choosing, or if we are behind one another on the track and he is behind me, I could either let him through or give him the option for the optimal strategy for one single race," putting a compensation on the table to bring the other driver to the table.

"I accept those conditions," Gasly said, immediately accepting the proposed compensation if Fatih’s gamble failed to work, because he knew they were going to play a very important role in the upcoming race.

At the moment, he seemed to be incapable of matching the rookie’s pace, so having that insurance should allow him to at least out-qualify him in three races if he chose the tow option, gain a position against him during a race, or take the best strategy option, which was not bad in itself. All of them came out as a win-win for him, and Fatih managed to turn Gasly into a supporter of his gamble.

Everyone in the room was speechless, as they had expected Gasly to act as the grown-up between the two and advise against it, but it seemed he was a driver first before being the older one and went on with the option that practically guaranteed him a better outcome.

Perrone, with a heavy heart, couldn’t help but just say, "Fine, we will adjust for that, but if it fails, this will also be the last time we accept your suggestions without any data backing them up. Do we have an agreement?"

"What if it works?" Fatih asked, making it clear to everyone that he didn’t for a moment think that it was going to fail, so he was focused on when it would work.

"Then we will be open to them," Franz Tost was the one to answer this time as he backed Fatih by promising him that. This was not something he would have usually put himself into, but he did so anyway, as giving Fatih ample support was something he was instructed to do by the Red Bull higher-ups in their attempt to keep him there until the end of the season.

Having gotten what he wanted, Fatih remained silent and just listened to the rest of the meeting before leaving the track and returning to the hotel once all of his obligations were done.

...

The team kept their side of the bargain, as the practice session strategy was adjusted to allow him to keep an additional brand-new medium along with a hard compound tire for the race, leaving him with two brand-new mediums at the moment, with one expected to be put to use at the qualifying session today.

Fatih and Gasly, who now had their workload increased, went ahead with their FP3 before final modifications, setup-wise, were done as qualifying finally arrived for them.

David Croft: "...and a middle sector of a 27.3 for Max Verstappen, the best middle sector we’ve had so far in qualifying, two-tenths up on his teammate, Sergio Perez."

Martin Brundle: "AND HAMILTON IS FASTEST OF ANYBODY THROUGH THE FIRST SECTOR, TAKING IT AWAY FROM VERSTAPPEN. THIS IS TWO AMAZING DRIVERS GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD."

David Croft: "Perez and Bottas 27.5 for the middle sector, Hamilton 27.5 for the middle sector. So, in two of the three sectors, Verstappen is about a tenth up on Hamilton and provisionally on pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton on the front row.

But it all comes down to the time when they cross the line. Verstappen was on pole for the first race of the season in Bahrain. This is round seven. Verstappen crosses the line... GOES INTO THE ONE-TWENTY-NINES! THAT IS A PROVISIONAL POLE TIME THAT COULD BE VERY HARD TO BEAT!

Sergio Perez now crosses the line back onto the front row, but half a second down on his teammate. Next across the line, the man who was on the front row last time out at Paul Ricard, Valtteri Bottas, is back on the front row for Mercedes.

They found pace with Bottas, but HAMILTON THEN GOES ONTO THE FRONT ROW AS YILDIRIM, THE ROOKIE, CROSSES THE LINE LAST, HAVING TIMED IT PERFECTLY! BUT HOW FAR UP CAN HE MOVE?

P5 IS THE BEST HE COULD DO WITH THE PACE OF THE CARS AHEAD, MISSING PEREZ BY ONLY TWO-TENTHS, WHILE EVERYONE UNDER THEM IS AT LEAST EIGHT-TENTHS BEHIND VERSTAPPEN!

IT IS VERSTAPPEN, HAMILTON, BOTTAS, AND PEREZ FOR THE FRONT TWO ROWS FOR THE FRENCH GRAND PRIX! AND FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS YEAR, IT’S VERSTAPPEN AT THE HEAD OF THE CONTENDERS!

IT IS ALSO THE LOWEST THE ROOKIE HAS EVER QUALIFIED AND THE FIRST TIME QUALIFYING OUTSIDE THE TOP 3. WE ARE OUT OF THE STREET CIRCUITS, INTO THE PROPER CIRCUITS, AND THE PACE DIFFERENCE IS ONCE AGAIN MADE CLEAR..."