Mercedes and Red Bull slowed down by stricter pit stop rules

The FIA ​​motorsport federation came earlier this season with an amended guideline regarding the pit stop regulations. So far it appears to be mainly bad news for the teams of Mercedes and Red Bull, the two teams that not only had the fastest cars, but also the fastest pit stops. Especially in Monza, things went wrong for both teams during the Italian Grand Prix, which eventually even led to a collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

“It’s always annoying when you have to deal with changes during the season. Especially when it comes to a procedure like this,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. His team has regularly broken the record for fastest pit stop in recent seasons; In the first eleven races of the season, the Austrian team’s pit crew managed to fit four new tires to a car five times within two seconds. The secret? Withdrawing the wheelgun, lowering the car and releasing the car all happened simultaneously.

The technique that saved Red Bull so much time was a thorn in the side of a number of other teams. McLaren, Alpine and Aston Martin, among others, went to the FIA ​​with the argument that the safety of the mechanics would be at stake. Although in recent seasons a car has rarely been sent away with a wheel that was not completely secured, the FIA ​​gave a tack and the guidelines for…