Palmer: Latifi crash hurt Perez and Hamilton

Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer analyzed in his column how Nicholas Latifi’s crash in Sunday’s race robbed Sergio Pérez of a win in Jeddah and Lewis Hamilton’s chance of finishing above tenth.

The choice of race strategy is always a difficult task in Formula 1, but on urban circuits there are additional factors that can influence the course of the race and destroy all planning – we were convinced again last weekend at the Grand Prix from Saudi Arabia.

Last year we already saw how a harmless crash at the end of the peloton can affect the course of a race or even an entire championship. On Sunday, Nicholas Latifi had a fairly typical crash on lap 15, which changed the course of the race again. Sergio Perez was unlucky at the time of this incident, having just emerged from the pits in response to a possible pit stop by Charles Leclerc and Ferrari.

Perez had an excellent qualifying, won the first pole of his career and after the start he controlled the course of the race. He had a consistent two-second lead, but with Leclerc close at hand, Red Bull decided to play it safe and give the Mexican driver new tyres.

It’s possible Ferrari bluffed to get Perez to retire early. It’s hard to say what Leclerc would have done if Sergio hadn’t stopped. Would Charles then go to his pit stop?

The message to the driver on the radio “stop to overtake” means an instruction to enter the pit lane if the vehicle in front does not stop for a pit stop. It’s a daring attempt at strategic advantage – either you use the undercut, or you force your opponent to fend off the threat of the undercut with a pit stop, and you conquer your section on an empty track yourself and then get newer tires to tackle. fall.

A more inopportune moment for Perez in Latifi’s accident is hard to imagine. He had only done half a lap before that, so he had not yet taken full advantage of the new tires and the rest were able to shorten their pit stops thanks to the safety car.

After that, Perez also made way for Carlos Sainz, who was behind the Spaniard on the safety car line and didn’t miss him immediately. Sergio returned to the position after the restart, but it seemed to me to be a tactical game by Red Bull. They didn’t give up early so that Perez would protect Verstappen at the restart and make sure Sainz couldn’t pressure Max.

Overall, the two leaders got a slight advantage over the Perez/Sainz pair, and they were already fighting for the lead, which turned out to be fantastic. Leclerc fought off two attacks from Verstappen, but was unable to hold off Max. Despite harassing his opponent until the finish of the Grand Prix, Charles was satisfied with second place. Still, this is a good result for the championship leader.

Charles Leclerc could have taken Perez’s place if Red Bull had not called their driver to the pit stop. Had Sergio stayed on track and Charles had entered the pits in an attempt to “cut”, he would have accidentally knocked himself out and Red Bull would have finished the race with a winning double.

Leclerc could have finished fourth had the cards fallen differently, so Charles’ result is good given the city circuit with a high error rate and the risk of a safety car.

Sergio Perez was not the only loser from the safety car. Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton were also unable to do anything at the time, as they started on hard tyres. Theoretically, this strategy gave them more flexibility: they could drive a very long first stint in the hope that the safety car would appear on the track closer to the finish. Then, for a short second, they would set up Medium tires, which they could attack.

The theory seemed reasonable to Haas and Mercedes. Had Latifi not crashed the car, Magnussen and Hamilton would have gained the advantage by making pit stops just as Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso stopped on track at the same time. In reality, however, Latifi’s accident turned out to be the most unfortunate moment for them.

Riders who started on Medium took advantage of the Latifi incident by swapping tires to Hard to finish on a hard set. It was too early for Magnussen and Hamilton to stop in the pits as they would not be able to cross the finish line on the Medium lineup to which they would have to switch.

If Latifi had crashed the car five or six laps later, not only would Perez have remained the favorite for the race, but Lewis Hamilton might have gotten more than a dismal tenth place finish. Plus, we would have witnessed another epic Haas result.

Of course the guys were very upset, but that’s the nature of racing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. They have no choice but to hope that one day they will get what they deserve in Jeddah.