[F1 Special Topic]The Night of Pulling Out the Bull's Horns~The Red Army breaks Red Bull's winning streak

This issue is really rich in content: Verstappen wrote the driver's 10-game winning streak, and Red Bull wrote the team's 15-game winning streak (across seasons), a new record in F1 history. Then these two sets of numbers were immediately suspended and could not be extended... But next time Does it take a long time to wait for the meeting?

heatThe first race after the break was Max Verstappen's home country of the Netherlands. With eight consecutive wins and even his personal points far exceeding the total of the second-place team, he is not only still the engine of Red Bull this year, And he also pulled the rear of the car further and further away. Seeing that it is expected to break the historical record this season, the local people are of course even more supportive. The sea and sky are the same color (the sea of ​​people and the smoke are both orange, representing the Royal Netherlands).

The situation of sudden rain and sudden sunshine is gone

However, the start of this race fell into chaos: it suddenly rained after the start of the first lap, and most of the drivers immediately changed to medium-weather tires. Only a few drivers wanted to get stuck and considered that the track of this station was not too wide. Therefore, they still struggled on dry tires, but even those who held on for one more lap tasted the bitter pill and their rankings dropped significantly. The rain didn't last long, and the road began to dry out on lap 10. Drivers using rain tires switched to dry tires one after another (five drivers had not yet changed to wet tires). Verstappen, the pole position winner, regained the lead on lap 12. Location.

This year's fixed script is that as long as there is no overall situation - such as a slowdown or a red flag - Verstappen will take the lead and run away, often with enough of a gap to make one more stop. On lap 61, it rained again, and it got worse. This time, no one believed it, and everyone changed to rain tires. Even Verstappen was the only one in the race to wear heavy rain tires, but the rain stopped after just one lap. A virtual safety car appeared, and then the red flag was blown to interrupt the race on lap 65.

After the race restarted, all drivers used medium-weather tires and were led by the safety car until they retired on lap 67. All cars started in a dynamic start. At this time, there were only five laps left in the race. No one took any more risky actions. Verstappen returned from the Dutch Grand Prix. Since its inception, it has won pole positions and wins for three consecutive years, never falling behind others. The next Italian station is his chance to break the nine-game winning streak of Red Bull senior Sebastien Vettel. However, since 2019, the winner of this station will end up withdrawing next time (in 2020 due to the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic in China) and ceased operation).

Internal strife in the Red Army is full of dangers

The winner of last year's Italian Grand Prix was Verstappen. If he wants to challenge the record for the most consecutive wins, he must break this curse. But let’s not talk about the curse. Just pursuing a winning streak, he encountered obstacles in qualifying: on this holy land of Ferrari, Carlos Sainz took his first pole position this year, and teammate Charles Leclerc was third. Of course Red Bull fans are looking forward to this game: Can Ferrari become the team that breaks Red Bull's winning streak at home this year? Although qualifying is not the key to victory for Verstappen.

When everyone was speculating on which lap Verstappen would take the lead, or even which corner of the first lap, Sainz "actually" held on for more than 10 laps! And Verstappen is not easy: it seems that he is facing a one-on-two situation with Ferrari attacking from the front and back, but behind him - Leclerc, who won here in 2019 and started this wave of magic - is not following closely, but is waiting and watching. Verstappen held on tight, finally forcing Sainz to brake on the 15th lap and losing first place. The defending champion walked away like a script.

After Sainz fell to second place, he was bitten by Leclerc because Sergio Perez caught up behind him. On the 32nd lap, Perez overtook Leclerc, and he was caught in a one-on-two situation where Ferrari was flanking him. However, he also copied his teammate's offensive, and overtook Sainz on the 46th lap. From then on, Red Bull became a 1-2 situation, and what happened next What's more, it's Ferrari's own internal fighting: Sainz wants to secure his first podium of the year, while Leclerc wants to win the podium at the team's home court. The battle between teammates made all the red fans break out in cold sweats, but in the end they failed to change the order. It was only 0.184 seconds shy of crossing the line.

Red Bull suffer first defeat of the season

Verstappen broke the curse of the Italian Grand Prix and won for two consecutive years. He also ended this season's European schedule with a personal 10-game winning streak that broke the F1 driver's history record. At the Singapore Station, Red Bull’s momentum was interrupted! He has been struggling since the beginning of the practice session, and only finished 11th and 17th in qualifying. Even Verstappen, who has not won in this race in the current F1 schedule, was eliminated in Q2 by Liam Lawson, who is driving for the sub-team Alpha Tauri ( Didn’t anyone say in the last issue that Verstappen could win from pole position in an Alpha Tauri?) This is the first time that Red Bull has missed Q3 with both cars since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix.

Sainz has taken the pole position for two consecutive games, Leclerc has been ranked third for two consecutive games, and Red Bull really seems to be in trouble this time, so is it finally time to stop the winning streak? But the question is who will win this station: George Russell, who is ranked second, is determined to win, and compatriots Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, who are ranked fourth and fifth behind him, are eyeing it. Overtaking in this station is difficult, if Red Bull does not respond Soul, it must be unprofitable, and it seems that the only way to add variables is to rely on rest strategies.

Together, Leclerc, the only driver in the first half who used soft tires, killed Russell, but his set of soft tires was completely wasted: Although Ferrari entered a 1-2 situation early, the team's strategy favored Leclerc to cut off Sainz's rear and block Russell's counterattack. , so he is asked to keep distance from his teammates. On the 20th lap, Logan Sargeant hit the wall and fell debris, which led to the safety car. It was almost the tire change window for those using soft or medium tires. However, when Leclerc was completing the work, he happened to encounter Hamilton passing by, so he had to delay the release of the car. One delay turned into a pause that took 5.7 seconds!

Persevere and persevere to the end

The two Red Bulls at the back of the grid both started with hard tires. Even though it was disadvantageous in this street race, they were aiming to change tires late and have a chance of getting stuck in front. Although it cannot be said that it was ineffective, it was not complete: the car in front After the break, they only occupied 2nd and 4th place, and because the hard tires were not easy to use here, they fell behind again (it was really a strange sight to see Red Bull fall behind all the way): the car lacked competition. Strength is the biggest flaw. No matter what strategies they use on this website, whether they stop early or stop late, it is actually useless.

However, after getting rid of the hard tires and switching to medium tires after 2/3 of the race, the pace improved, because at this time, most of the cars in front were using hard tires, which meant that the situation was reversed, and the two Red Bulls began to regain the lost ground along the way. Soil, from 15th and 19th after the break to 5th and 8th at the end! Although the team already has a "surplus" of points, such a degree of hemostasis will not delay the early victory of the championship too much. Not only was Verstappen and Red Bull's longest winning streak interrupted, it was also the first time that both cars failed to get on the podium since last year's Brazil Grand Prix.

Although the title of this issue says "pulling the horns alive", and Sainz, who broke Red Bull's winning streak, comes from Spain, which produces matadors, in fact no one actually pulled the horns of the bull--there was even a scene where Sainz fought with the Red Bull driver. None - the team was defeated by me, I just forced to use the title I had been preparing for more than half a year this time. Will Red Bull want to say that the record is broken anyway, and since the title is only in the morning and evening, there is no need to actively respond? Or do you want to start the next winning streak right away? Let’s take a look at the Japanese station after the deadline for this issue!

Wang Yiping