红牛为要求维斯塔潘让回两个位置的决定辩护
在F1西班牙大奖赛马德里站中，红牛车队指示维斯塔潘让回两个位置，最终他获得第二名。车队负责人Laurent Mekies认为，即便没有这一指令，维斯塔潘也难以取胜。
红牛为要求维斯塔潘让回两个位置的决定辩护
Laurent Mekies表示，他没想到自己的车手会毫无争辩地服从
维斯塔潘在F1西班牙大奖赛马德里站中获得第二名，仅输给了安东内利——但如果红牛没有指示他在比赛中让出两个位置，他有可能获胜吗？车队负责人Laurent Mekies认为那并不现实。
Verstappen在首圈超越了Antonelli，但当时他已经注定要让回那个位置，因为起步时发生了一起事件。这位荷兰车手曾与汉密尔顿争夺第三名，并在过程中切弯，回到赛道时位于法拉利车手之前。
随后Hamilton通过无线电向他的车队——实际上也向同样能获取无线电的赛事控制中心——指出Verstappen需要让回位置。但那时，这位红牛车手也已经领先于Antonelli了。
他在首圈超越了这位意大利车手，此前这位梅赛德斯车手自己也经历了一个多事的起步，切弯并需要让回一个位置给诺里斯。这意味着如果Verstappen同意让Hamilton通过，他也必须让出一个位置给Antonelli，而后者当时正夹在他们之间。
当Gianpiero Lambiase的指令传来时，Verstappen显然并不认同，辩称Hamilton把他挤出了赛道。
“你们到底在说什么？”他对车队说。“他那样会撞车的。你们到底在说什么？如果我就留在赛道上，我就退赛了。”
尽管如此，Verstappen还是在第四圈执行了指令，让Antonelli和Hamilton都通过了。
正如Mekies所解释的，那时红牛已经分析了这起事件，并决定不值得冒被罚的风险，认为最好立即承受损失，让Verstappen之后再反击。
“看，这永远会是一个痛苦而艰难的决定，但指挥墙上的人非常、非常仔细地看了情况，并迅速做了分析，因为我们必须快速做出决定，”Mekies告诉F1 TV。
安东内利，梅赛德斯，汉密尔顿，法拉利，维斯塔潘，红牛车队，诺里斯，迈凯伦
“当然，我们当时并不期待车里的Max发来‘感谢’邮件，但我们觉得最好在当时承受痛苦，之后再反击，而Max一如既往地做得非常出色，而不是等待并冒更大的处罚风险，那可能在之后代价更高。”
关键在于，红牛并非根据赛事控制中心的指令行事。如果Verstappen保持领先，这起事件将留给赛会干事调查，Mekies表示可能的处罚可能是5秒或10秒。
“赛会干事的决定从来不是让回位置，”他解释道。“那样的话我们只会被罚，要么5秒要么10秒——由他们酌情决定。”
“所以那就是会发生的情况，当然，如果你想象一下有安全车或其他情况的比赛场景，代价可能远不止一两个位置。”
“所以幸运的是，Max在Lewis退赛之前就让出了位置，并最终从那时起继续比赛。当然这令人沮丧，但公平地说，我认为P2是我们今天能取得的最好成绩。”
Hamilton随后的退赛为红牛的决定增添了另一个因素。如果车队将决定推迟到法拉利车手退出比赛之后，Verstappen将不再能够实际把位置还给他。
但Mekies表示，在事件发生期间，红牛几乎没有机会咨询赛事控制中心，车队必须实时做出自己的判断。
“赛后是一个很开放的世界，赛后当然会发生我们与赛事控制中心沟通、也直接与赛会干事沟通以听取他们意见的情况，”他说。
“我相信车队会这样做，因为我们总是交流，总是学习，但在那一刻你没有那么多时间咨询，必须做出决定。”
英文原文
Red Bull defends decision to force Max Verstappen to give back two positions
Laurent Mekies says he didn't expect his driver to simply obey without arguing
Max Verstappen finished second in the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, losing out only to Kimi Antonelli - yet could he have won had Red Bull not instructed him to concede two positions during the race? Team boss Laurent Mekies believes that wasn't realistic.
Verstappen moved past Antonelli on the opening lap, but by that point he was already doomed to concede that place because of an incident at the start. The Dutchman had battled with Lewis Hamilton for third and cut the corner in the process, emerging back on track ahead of the Ferrari driver.
Hamilton then called on the radio to his team - and effectively race control, which also has access to the feed - to point out that Verstappen needed to give the position back. But by that point, the Red Bull driver was already ahead of Antonelli too.
He had overtaken the Italian during the opening lap, after the Mercedes driver himself had experienced an eventful start to the race, cutting corners and needing to give a position back to Lando Norris. That meant that if Verstappen agreed to let Hamilton through, he would also have to concede a position to Antonelli, who was now between them.
When the call from Gianpiero Lambiase came, Verstappen clearly wasn't in agreement, arguing that Hamilton had pushed him off the track.
"What the f*** are you guys talking about?" he said to the team. "He would've shunted it. Like, what are you guys talking about? If I just stay on the track, I am out of the race."
Verstappen nevertheless followed the instruction on lap four, allowing both Antonelli and Hamilton back through.
As Mekies explained, by that point Red Bull had already analysed the incident and decided it wasn't worth risking a penalty, believing it was better to take the immediate hit and allow Verstappen to fight back.
"Look, it's always going to be a painful and a difficult decision, but the guys on the pit wall had a very, very good look at it and did the analysis fast, because we had to make decisions fast," Mekies told F1 TV.
Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren
"And of course we were not expecting the 'thank you' email at that moment from Max in the car, but we felt it was better to take the pain at that moment and to fight back after, which Max has done exceptionally well as always, rather than wait and risk bigger penalties that could have been more costly later on."
Crucially, Red Bull was not acting on an instruction from race control. Had Verstappen stayed ahead, the incident would instead have been left for the stewards to investigate, with Mekies saying the potential sanction could have been five or 10 seconds.
"The decision of the stewards is never to give back positions," he explained. "In that case we would have simply been penalised, either five seconds or 10 seconds - it's at their discretion.
"So that's what would have happened and, of course, if you can imagine race scenarios with safety car or other circumstances, it can cost you a lot more than the position or two.
"So luckily Max gave away the positions before Lewis retired and ultimately continued to fight the race from that point. And of course it is frustrating, but in fairness I think P2 was the absolute best we could have achieved today."
Hamilton's subsequent retirement added another element to Red Bull's call. Had the team delayed its decision until after the Ferrari was out of the race, Verstappen would no longer have been able to physically return the position to him.
But Mekies said there was little opportunity for Red Bull to consult race control while the incident was unfolding, with the team having to make its own judgement in real time.
"After the race it's a very open world and after the race, of course, it happens that we speak with race control, that we speak directly with the stewards also to have their opinion," he said.
"And I'm sure it's something that the team will do because we always exchange and we always learn, but at that moment you don't have so much time for consultations and a decision needs to be made."
Motorsport.com ·
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