sprint car76 wrote: ↑26 Sep 2019, 05:00
Beg to differ. Why would any team mid field team leave their driver out, knowing that once the leaders caught them there driver was going to lose any advantage they had gained by staying out. Makes no sense. If they were going to be on a one stop like everybody else they needed to max out their strategy by pitting when the leaders got to them to minimize any time that they would lose. Every second counts and that is why teams like toro rosso, racing point, and renault ended up where they did.
That's all well and good but again if they pit Stroll he pits into 14th and he's got no realistic shot at even a single point. In 5th, a crash that blocks the track and a red flag, he gets a completely free change of tires, starts in 5th and might well finish 5th, even higher if there is a crash ahead or he gets a good run on a restart.
when you have literally nothing to gain from pitting, but even low chance of events that help you out, staying out is a no brainer up to the point the tires would be failing. There are multiple things that could have helped them out while they ran out front and basically nothing that will help them if they pit at that point.
Every second doesn't count, they were 14th, that's zero points, for a team with enough points that an 11th or a 20th place is functionally the same to them. If you have 5 or less points, only 1-2 points finishes and are fighting between 10th and 9th in the championship an 11th place over a 12th could seal you millions, for Racing point, nothing, absolutely worthless. So gaining seconds by pitting earlier to come out 2 seconds behind in 14th or 30 seconds behind in 14th or in 20th makes literally no difference to them. From 5th though there were several scenarios that could have ended up with them getting multiple points. It's a complete no brainer to keep people out at such a track with basically no overtaking. At no stage ever in the race could an earlier stop have brought them back out in the points or anywhere near the points.
At a completely different track with actual overtaking then yes, seconds actually count because with a shorter second stint and good tires he would have had every chance to potentially come back through the pack in Singapore... nope.