Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel reckons that the driver input in team strategies is not too different across the F1 teams.
With the difference between Mercedes and Ferrari along with Red Bull Racing in certain races not too huge, the races is decided through strategies. The role of strategists then becomes important but it isn’t possible without F1 driver inputs.
The F1 racers are the ones who are driving the cars and so they understand where the grand prix is heading towards. So far in the 2019 F1 season, certain races has seen strategy play a key role and the driver has made the key difference.
On Ferrari side, who have faced a lot of criticism so far, Vettel believes that the driver input is constant across all F1 teams. He feels that the Italian manufacturer’s strategy calls were blown out of proportion, whether it is do in Russia and or Mexico.
“I don’t think that the [strategy] system is so different [across all teams],” said Vettel. “I think we express in the car what we feel, and together with the pitwall, I think we try to make the best decision. I think we did the best we could like in Mexico.
“I just heard some people said that Lewis was on the radio complaining about his tyres, not being sure that they would last till the end, I think it’s a bit short-sighted [to speak about strategy if it will work or not just after putting the tyres].
“We had some races where maybe our strategy wasn’t the best, but I don’t think it’s our way of how we communicate that really is a problem. I don’t think we need to question that. It has worked many times, it probably hasn’t worked every time.
“But what it means is that there’s room for improvement, and certainly I’m not taking decisions on my own, certainly the team is happy to ask me or Charles in the car what’s our feel for the tyres and so on and based on that you obviously make a decision.
“But pre-race we always have a quite clear plan of what we believe is best, whether then it’s always possible to do that for different reasons is a different question.” The German’s strategy calls has been very particular in multiple F1 races in 2019.
At the same time, Vettel’s teammate Charles Leclerc has admitted that he needs to work well on getting his strategy calls right from inside the cockpit. While defending from Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon, he got it eventually wrong in Mexico.
“I believe I can have a better influence on my strategy especially,” he said. “In Mexico, there was definitely more things I could do as a driver to try and help the team to take the better decision, and this is part of the learning process.”
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