The start was won by Max Verstappen in Zandvoort, but behind the Dutch there will be two Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, lined up on the grid.
Verstappen can be said to be alone again, as Sergio Perez only scored the 16th starting cube, and presumably due to an engine change he only cuts for the afternoon race from the end of the field.
And all this means that Red Bull will have a hard time dealing with Mercedes, as the Brackley barn with different tactics you can send your pilots to race.
“I think if we’re able to bring that pace to the race, it’s going to be a one-stop strategy for survival players again,” Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 television.
“Max has to make a decision. You have to decide whether to go with one stand or maybe two. I think we can do both tactics on Sunday. ”
“We’ve seen that you can apply completely different strategies with two cars: stand up with one, cut off, apply massive pressure, and leave the other outside. It can help a double victory. ”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is well aware of the danger, but says they are focusing on their own race – and, of course, to defeat Lewis Hamilton.
“We’re doing our own race with our heads down. The perfect would be if we could pull the lead. But for some reason I think it won’t be that easy, ”the expert said.
“They have two competitors out there who can share the opportunities. But the one we have to defeat is Lewis, so we have to choose the battle to be fought. ”
Although Mercedes has two cars in the lead, Wolff pointed out, Verstappen isn’t so alone after all, AlphaTauri pilot Pierre Gasly will start from 4th place.
“They have Gasly there, so they have a shadow car! I think we should be happy with the way we ended up. Lewis lost a lot of time on Friday and eventually managed to put together a good lap. So 2nd and 3rd place is not so bad. ”
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