Ricciardo's accident an assist for Verstappen
There Red Bull unlike Ferrari, it had not impressed in the long run simulations in either FP1 or FP3 of the Japanese Grand Prix. On the eve of the race, Carlos Sainz had declared that the RB20s had run with a higher fuel load than the Ferrari, while Helmut Marko had been more cautious by including Ferrari and McLaren among the cars capable of challenging for the victory.
The decisions taken at Red Bull before Qualifying, however, they were successful as demonstrated by the GP where Verstappen led without any particular problems. Sergio Perez had some balance problems in the first stint and didn't seem able to attack Charles Leclerc when the two found themselves pitted on medium tyres, but once the hard compound was fitted he attacked the Ferrari SF with determination and relative ease. 24 of the Monegasque regaining second position.
Helmut Marko explained that the technical update brought by Red Bull to Suzuka slowed down the definition of the set-up also due to the effect of the weather which made FP2 useless: “The reason why we weren't at our best with the set-up was probably the major technical update brought to Japan – explained the Red Bull manager in his signature column on the site speedweek.com – it can happen especially if you miss a free practice session due to rain. The weather forecast called for clear Friday and rainy Saturday. In reality, the opposite happened. Verstappen's front wing adjustment proved critical, also due to the higher temperatures on Sunday. Indirectly, we can say that Ricciardo helped Verstappen, because the red flag for Daniel's accident allowed us to correct the incidence of Max's wing. Also helping us in the race were the higher temperatures which historically help us ”.
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