Max Verstappen was not a lot occupied with speaking after Components 1’s Mexico Grand Prix concerning the controversy over his double penalty as a result of it was nowhere close to his largest fear.
In truth, it was not misplaced on him that, whereas his 20-second punishment robbed him of an opportunity to struggle for a podium, he knew that his Purple Bull was unlikely to be up there even with out the sanction.
Whereas he had managed to qualify on the entrance row, and even lead early on, Verstappen rapidly came upon that the last word tempo was not there – particularly on the medium and laborious compounds.
“The issue is that we’re too sluggish, and that is why I am being put in these sorts of positions,” he mentioned of the controversial battle with Lando Norris. “That’s my downside.”
That Verstappen ended up sixth, 59.558 seconds behind race winner Carlos Sainz, did owe lots to his punishment.
However for those who dig a bit deeper into the info of his efficiency – and pull out the affect of time misplaced within the pits – then the state of affairs will not be really any higher. In truth, in pure information phrases, it may very well be argued that Mexico was Purple Bull’s worst race of the season to date.
Top-of-the-line methods to correctly consider the pace of vehicles is to take a look at their race tempo, and see the way it stacks up in opposition to the opposition.
Utilizing information that has been helpfully collated by web site f1pace.com, we are able to pull out some key info to indicate us how Verstappen’s tempo stacks up in opposition to the opposition throughout the season to date.
These are based mostly on pure racing laps run at pace, so the primary lap will not be counted and neither are these when drivers are both coming into the pits or leaving the pits. Laps accomplished below the Security Automotive and Digital Security Automotive are additionally discounted.
Going by the season, we are able to present how Verstappen’s race tempo stacked up in comparison with the quickest non-Purple Bull rival.
* Engine grid penalty meant he began eleventh
Based mostly on the above info, this information can then be was a proportion determine to present us a baseline of Purple Bull’s relative race tempo over the course of the marketing campaign – with Australia eliminated as a result of Verstappen was a DNF.
Because the beneath graph reveals, Verstappen’s season has been going within the fallacious route.
The information clearly reveals two-step adjustments over the season. From its dominant begin, Purple Bull fell again to going toe-to-toe with McLaren in Miami, and because the British Grand Prix, the pattern appears to be of it dropping additional backwards.
And whereas the Mexico determine of 0.73% adrift is in numerical phrases the worst of the season, it is extremely just like what the crew delivered in Monza – which recommended that when there is no such thing as a downforce at play, the RB20’s weaknesses get uncovered much more.
Cynics at different groups would have liked Purple Bull’s race tempo to have fallen away dramatically because the Singapore GP weekend, when rivals grew to become alerted to its entrance bib adjuster – which some recommended might have been used to assist modify its journey peak between qualifying and the race and higher steadiness tempo throughout each periods.
However the information doesn’t appear to again that up and means that Purple Bull’s type has simply steadily drifted backwards as different squads have made beneficial properties.
The difficulty in Mexico seems to be extra tyre-related than anything – with the Purple Bull simply not getting the toughest of the compounds into the suitable working window.
As Purple Bull crew boss Christian Horner mentioned: “On the laborious tyre, we simply did not have the identical tempo. Max had no grip, we did not really feel we might change the tyres on.
“In order that’s the largest problem within the subsequent 4 days, to grasp what triggered that.
“Clearly, Brazil is a really completely different problem to this circuit, nevertheless it’s a sample that significantly on the finish of stints, you see the McLaren may be very robust – significantly on the finish of grands prix.”
With a 47-point hole between Verstappen and predominant title rival Norris, plus Ferrari in resurgent type, Purple Bull is aware of that it must rapidly flip a nook in its type.
And, whereas Mexico has triggered some worries, it would hope that some venues arising that play to the high-speed aero effectivity Purple Bull strengths that have been proven in Belgium will maybe assist it get throughout the road.
As Helmut Marko instructed ORF: “We will not afford one other race like this.
“Now we have to search out pace – and it is no secret that we’re presently dropping out to the competitors, particularly Ferrari and McLaren, within the sluggish corners.
“However we’ve got two tracks, Qatar and Las Vegas, the place issues must be higher once more. And if we’ve got the traditional set-up instances, then we’re not as distant from the leaders as we have been this time.”