Sergio Perez (MEX) Red Bull Racing RB19 makes a pit stop. 08.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18, Qatar Grand Prix, Doha, Qatar, Race Day.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner claims implementing mandated pitstops into Formula 1 on a permanent basis wouldn’t “make sense” for the series.
Following Pirelli’s discovery of micro cuts on its tyres after Friday’s running in Qatar, the FIA opted to reduce the track limits at the high-speed Turns 12 and 13 by 80cm.
Amid continued concerns, the sport’s governing body announced ahead of Sunday’s grand prix that it would regulate maximum stint lengths of 18 laps.
After Max Verstappen declared that F1 should strive to avoid a repeat of “forced pit stops”, Horner has also firmly dismissed the idea of adding such a rule to the regulations.
“I think you’ve got to give the freedom and that creates the creativity,” Horner said via Autosport.
“Mandated pitstops? It will have effects on the end of qualifying and how many laps you do in qualifying to save tyres for the race… so that to me, it doesn’t make sense.
“You want to run your fastest race and whether it’s a one-stop or two-stop or three-stop. That’s where we need to be at.”
Although Verstappen led every lap en route to his 14th victory of 2023, the Dutchman only upheld a margin of 4.8s to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the end of 57 laps.
While McLaren utilised the strength of its MCL60 car in high-speed corners to keep Verstappen honest, Lando Norris admitted that the mandated stops had mitigated Red Bull’s advantage when it comes to tyre preservation at the end of race stints.
Horner emphasises that Red Bull elected to run against the optimal strategy predicted by the simulations to avoid being caught out by an ill-timed Safety Car at any stage.
“From a safety point of view, I fully understand why they did it,” Horner added.
“Maybe strategically, it wasn’t the optimum strategy for this race, two stop and tyre deg and some of the other things would have come into play.
“But it was a different race and it tested the strategists in a different way.
“The thing is, it made it a lot more predictable because you know what the maximum stint length for each car was.
“So for us, it was about managing the risk and exposure of a Safety Car within the last 10 laps, which is why we went past an optimal strategy to make sure that we had the coverage in the event the drivers behind had a free stop to give Max the best tyres possible.
“So, it was a risk limitation strategy, particularly in that last 10 [laps].”
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez, who failed to advance to Q3 in qualifying for the eighth time this year, could only climb as high as 10th having started from the pit lane.
The Mexican picked up three penalties for track limits infringements, but Horner believes his race was “diluted” by the unique pit-stop regulation enforced in Qatar.
Keyword: Horner explains why mandated F1 pitstops wouldn’t ‘make sense’