Right Tyre Selection = Winning

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Verstappen only used the medium (last weeks soft tyre) for 6 laps. Teams have to use two different compounds during the race so this makes perfect sense how they achieved the win.

Today's Formula One Grand Prix was all about tyre management and team strategies. It was not about the car itself, but how the tyre wore on the set up each team had. The race saw scorching track temperatures which had a massive impact on the various rubber compounds.

If the teams had paid attention to what Pirelli had said it was rather obvious and don't know why teams didn't heed to what Pirelli had changed for this weeks race. The tyres were one step down from last week meaning the hard was now a medium and the medium was now a soft. The soft tyre was now a super soft which should never have even been considered for the race. Red Bull have a women in their strategy team and she must have listened as men sometimes think they are always right or is it the other way around.

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These are the tyre sets the teams had at their disposal today. Verstappen had a used set of hard tyres but had only done one lap so basically brand new still. He started on the hard tyre after gambling in qualifying with them. Whatever you use in qualifying 2 and make it into qualifying 3 is the tyre you use to start the race.

Last week we saw teams use the soft and medium tyre with the medium being the one to use. Surely that should tell you that you needed to at least start on the hard compound this week and take advantage as the race unfolds. Red Bull had the winning strategy today and others will be copying this next week.

With all the millions spent I cannot understand some of the thinking that is going on and mystifies me as to what the thought process was. Verstappen was handed the race on a plate by what the other teams did and could afford to run the medium tyre for only 6 laps staying within the rules of using two different compounds.

I felt sorry for Bottas as with him pitting on lap 32 having had the hard tyres on for 19 laps he could easily have gone further. Once the tyres were removed and replaced the team had time to inspect them and found the tyres were fine underneath the blisters and were not worn badly. Seeing this the team left Hamilton out for another 9 laps more than Bottas giving him a fresh set for the final 10 laps.

Verstappen won the race by completing 26 laps in his opening stint and in reality could have gone further on them. At one stage they were not looking great yet they seemed to come back to him as he looked after them. Mercedes should have noticed that part as well as they would have seen his lap times steadily improving. LeClerc with Ferrari only stopped once and his last stint on the hard tyre was 34 laps and they still looked remarkably good.

The other driver who was sacrificed today which i found unfair was Nico Hulkenberg who was bought in with 8 laps to go and placed on the soft tyres (super soft) which made no sense as everyone knew that even 8 laps is a risk in the heat of the day. I think it was a move to make sure Lance Stroll stayed ahead of him as that would look funny after coming back into racing being out for over 9 months.

Next week the teams are in Barcelona and really hope Pirelli play around with the tyres some more as it made for an interesting race. Maybe the teams will start paying attention to what Pirelli do this week as they have been right two weeks in a row. I can see teams only using one set of the hard tyre in the practice sessions. Each team is given a total of 10 sets per car for the weekend. Drivers and teams select how many of each compound they would like and maybe the red tyre should now be the tyre you only take 2 sets leaving 4 sets of each for the harder compounds.