Chapter 461 - 2021 French Grand Prix | Race VI

Ted Kravitz: "Bottas has been on the radio complaining and telling them, essentially, ’Lads, you might say that these tires can get to the end, or that they can do 40 laps, but I’m telling you I’m the driver, and they can’t.’"

Martin Brundle: "If we think they are going to do a two-stop strategy, we’ll see, but I think Mercedes is probably thinking, ’Look, Checo is probably going to stick with a one-stop here, and we need to have you in that battle.’"

David Croft: "I fully agree with you there, and talk of the devil and you will see him, as someone among them is pulling the trigger! It is the sister team’s, AlphaTauri’s, mechanics who are rushing out of their garage carrying the brand-new medium tires they had set aside for the race, as Fatih parts from the group and dives into the pit lane at the end of lap 31.

This swings around, and it is a two-stop race as far as AlphaTauri is concerned. Let’s watch as the brand-new mediums go on, and they are for the rest of the race. No problem with that stop, a 2.2-second stop, and he is out on his way as Sergio Perez is now making his way through Turn 14 and comes out of Turn 15 onto the long start-finish straight.

It is going to be very close and will determine whether Fatih will have a free-air out-lap or one where he has to fight Perez. And by a mile, Sergio Perez comes out ahead of Fatih Y?ld?r?m with a four-second advantage on his end by the time Fatih takes Turn 1."

Martin Brundle: "This might have been a miscalculation from AlphaTauri, as Red Bull could now hinder his progress, buy enough time for their main driver, and give him the option to pit without a problem.

Mercedes and Red Bull will have to respond to that, but it is a more difficult decision for Mercedes than it is for Red Bull because if they pit, they will have three cars they need to go through while Verstappen only has two. But Fatih has the worst of it all, as he now has to go through four cars if he is to see a race win on the horizon."

....

{Out-lap critical, and let’s move to Strat 2,} James said on the radio, his voice trying to sound calm, though it was obvious that he was nervous.

{Thanks,} Fatih said as he switched to Strat 2 on his steering wheel while he was in the fast lane, still on the pit speed limit. He was finally allowed to go for the all-out engine mode that deployed the battery and ICE very aggressively, which was exactly what he needed in an out-lap critical situation.

{Perez will be four seconds ahead of us, enough space, but we will need to pass him fast for a possible podium,} James added just as Fatih crossed the white line and could get off the speed limiter and use the full power of the car.

He didn’t respond this time and just got back on the throttle, joining the track at the sharp end of the start-finish straight before diving into the Turn 1 and 2 chicane and finally getting back on full power.

He knew this out-lap was going to be a make-or-break moment for his race, since he needed to force at least one of the two cars ahead to pit to reduce the number of cars he had to overtake.

.......

David Croft: "Oh my god, he has shaved one and a half seconds in a single sector, and he is on pace to set the fastest lap of the race! He is finally entering the range to start benefiting from Perez’s slipstream, and the two of them are pushing as Fatih eats another one and three-hundredths of a second in the middle sector as he enters the third sector, while the leading two are approaching the final parts of the third sector...." He stopped mid-sentence as the radio started playing.

{BOX and pit confirm, Max.}

{Box, box, Lewis.}

David Croft: "Fatih’s monstrous pace has scared the two teams into reacting immediately at the end of the next lap, as he is still eating into the gap! As he finishes the final sector on the start-finish straight, he has taken out three and a half seconds from the gap to the leaders and is now half a second behind Checo Perez.

As he opens his DRS flap, he sticks to his rear for more slipstream advantage, and as they reach the end, he dives inside, moves side-by-side with Sergio Perez, and, trusting the grip in his brand-new tyres, brakes later and dives into Turn 1!

Fatih moves into second as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen finally rejoin the track five seconds behind him, with his tires already warmed up as he chases Valtteri Bottas, 14 seconds ahead.

The race that had been seen as a one-stop race has now been turned upside down, as the top three drivers have all pitted for their second pit stop, and it is now going to be full send to the end of the race."

Martin Brundle: "They had no choice but to react to that, seeing the pace Fatih had shown on his out-lap. He has done an incredible job of putting them in an uncomfortable position where they had to make a choice, because if the pace lap after lap is like that, then he was going to catch up to them very fast."

David Croft: "Red Bull is now in a dilemma: should Perez, whom they will catch up to within two laps, move to the side and let the two of them pass, or should he defend against Hamilton and risk slowing down Verstappen? That would advantage Y?ld?r?m, who is in clear air, is fully pushing, and has taken out three seconds from Bottas in the race lead, bringing that gap to only 11 seconds."

Martin Brundle: "He is going to be on his gearbox within a few laps if he keeps this up and takes the race lead, which would be impressive. But he now has two cars on slightly used mediums who will be chasing him, though as you said, they first have to go through Perez; at least, Hamilton has to fight it out."

David Croft: "But Fatih gets DRS as he finds himself amidst three backmarkers who are all moving to the side to let him through as they get their blue flags. It might be seen as a small thing, but for the first time this year, an AlphaTauri is lapping a Ferrari, as Charles Leclerc, who is now on a two-stop, gets lapped by Fatih Y?ld?r?m, who flies by him."

Martin Brundle: "This time he only took out a second and a half after two laps of taking out three seconds. Is he already managing, or have the tires already fallen off?"

...

’This is a marathon, not a sprint,’ was what was going through his mind as he started managing his pace to have full control over how the tires degraded.

It was only thanks to Invictus that he was remaining this calm, knowing that two monstrous drivers were now on fresh tires closing the gap on him.

Instead of feeling nervous, he was excited he had once again changed the future by forcing both Mercedes and Red Bull to pit their drivers by undercutting them, when in his previous life it was Red Bull who had pulled the undercut while Mercedes stayed out, letting Hamilton keep track position only to lose it in the closing stages of the race.

Now that this had happened, it was finally his opportunity to secure the race win. To do that, he needed to manage these tires to retain grip for the remainder of the race, since this was the only advantage he was going to have against the pace deficit as those two monsters closed in on him.

Lap 34: Gap to Bottas +10.7s; Gap to Hamilton +4.8s; Gap to Verstappen +5.3s

Lap 35: Gap to Bottas +9.5s; Gap to Hamilton +5.3s; Gap to Verstappen +6.0s

Lap 36: Gap to Bottas +8.3s; Gap to Hamilton +4.7s; Gap to Verstappen +5.1s

Lap 37: Gap to Bottas +7.2s; Gap to Hamilton +4.1s; Gap to Verstappen +4.8s

Lap 38: Gap to Bottas +5.8s; Gap to Hamilton +3.8s; Gap to Verstappen +4.5s

Lap 39: Gap to Bottas +4.1s; Gap to Hamilton +3.2s; Gap to Verstappen +4.1s

Lap 40: Gap to Bottas +1.5s; Gap to Hamilton +3.9s; Gap to Verstappen +4.4s

Thanks to Perez acting as a moat as Red Bull tried to play the team game by slowing Hamilton to allow Verstappen to pass both of them, and Hamilton’s strategic placement of the car to prevent that as he tried to make a move on Perez, they ended up wasting four laps fighting and slowing each other down. This allowed Fatih, in free air, to maintain his pace without worry as he closed the gap to Bottas.