Max Verstappen’s unsafe release: analyzing brake telemetry data of Carlos Sainz. Analyzing brake telemetry data of Carlos.

There was a controversial event during the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto wanted to point out at the end of the race in Jeddah.

“Today’s race was decided by a few episodes. I personally regret Max’s unsafe release on Carlos. If Carlos doesn’t slow down, he goes straight into him. The telemetry data is evident in our opinion, we immediately communicated the episode to the Race Direction, but they did not consider that there were the extremes for a penalty” – these were the comments of the Ferrari boss in his post-race interview, underlining his disappointment for the fact that the Red Bull Dutch driver did not receive a penalty for this episode that took place in the pit lane on the occasion of the only stop made by the Scuderia Ferrari drivers and Max Verstappen when the Safety Car entered the track following the incident involving Nicholas Latifi.

Ferrari obviously made a ‘double’ pit stop, with Max Verstappen restarting from his own box as Carlos Sainz arrived. Seeing the television images it does not seem that there were the extremes for an unsafe release, but the telemetry analysis confirms the idea of Mattia Binotto. According to the data provided by Federico Albano and reported by ormulapassion.it regarding the comparison of the throttle and brake lines between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, it is clar that the Spaniard had to exert a little pressure on the brake pedal twice. In the three graphs below, the white line is related to Charles Leclerc, the red one to Carlos Sainz. The speed graph shows that Carlos slows down more than Charles as he approaches the box. The graph relating to the brake pedal points out that the Spaniard is forced to brake before Charles Leclerc (two times). The speed graph shows a different shape between the two Ferrari drivers, with the Spaniard obviously having to slow down before him as he enters the box, finding Verstappen in front of him. The brake is minimal, so much so that on a visual level Carlos Sainz slows down a little to avoid the collision, without however having to resort to an obvious hard brake.

This risk taken by Red Bull in restarting Max Verstappen then generated a chain loss of a few tenths for Carlos Sainz which could have made the difference at the exit from the pits when the Ferrari driver found himself behind Sergio Perez despite having the right on paper to occupy the third position. Checo then returned his position after the restart, but Carlos Sainz’s opportunity to attack Max Verstappen at the restart had now been thwarted. Episodes, details, certainly not a clear mistake. But in a weekend in which 25 thousandths made the difference in Qualifying and in which less than six tenths divided Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc at the finish line, it is legitimate for Mattia Binotto to demand attention from the stewards on every detail. After all, Verstappen himself in the race challenged Charles Leclerc on two occasions for crossing the entry line in the pit lane and a suspicious gain of ground under the yellow flag in the final laps of the Grand Prix.