Formula 1: Red Bull Racing took precautionary measure in Austrian Grand Prix

Following Daniel Ricciardo’s retirement in the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing took a precautionary measure to help Max Verstappen get his first win of the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton led teammate and race polesitter Valtteri Bottas early on in the 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria on Sunday.

But after the virtual safety car period began on lap 14 as a result of Bottas being forced to retire with a hydraulics issue, the four-time Formula 1 champion did not come into the pits. Meanwhile, several of the other frontrunners did.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was running in third place when Bottas was forced to retire. He came into the pits in second and he came out of the pits in second during the virtual safety car period.

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When Hamilton finally came into the pits on lap 26, Verstappen took the lead and Hamilton fell back to fourth place as a result of the fact that he lost so much time pitting under green flag conditions as opposed to during the earlier virtual safety car period. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen slotted into second and third, respectively.

Raikkonen passed Ricciardo on lap 38, and Ricciardo made his way into the pits for the second time on lap 39. He rejoined the field in fifth place. But on lap 54, a gearbox failure forced him to retire.

With Verstappen still leading the race quite comfortably after that with only 18 laps remaining, the alarm went off in the Red Bull Racing garage.

To try to prevent what happened to Ricciardo from happening to Verstappen, who had built up his lead over Raikkonen to about seven seconds and had just under a six-second lead over him when Ricciardo was forced to retire, Red Bull Racing decided to turn down the Renault engine in Verstappen’s car.

Here is what Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner had to say about the matter, according to Motorsport.com.

"“We were quite concerned that there might be a similar problem with Max so we turned his engine down to try and reduce temperatures. Then [we] only turned it up over the last five laps just to make sure the Ferraris weren’t going to get within the DRS range.“Well, the old lederhosen started to overheat, but Max seemed pretty much in control, bar reliability. That was perhaps the most apprehension that I certainly had in the last 25% of the race.”"

As stated, Verstappen led Raikkonen by several seconds for much of the race. But following the retirement of Ricciardo, the 2007 Formula 1 champion began to close on the 20-year-old Dutchman. Verstappen ended up winning the race by just 1.504 seconds over Raikkonen. Sebastian Vettel, Raikkonen’s teammate, finished just 3.181 seconds behind Verstappen in third place.

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Were you concerned that Max Verstappen’s lead over Kimi Raikkonen was dwindling in the closing laps of the Austrian Grand Prix, or were you excited that Raikkonen seemed to be running him down? Would you have made the same decision that Red Bull Racing made to turn down Verstappen’s Renault engine to prevent what happened to Daniel Ricciardo from happening to him?

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