Strategy becomes a whole lot simpler when you have a faster car than your opponent. Red Bull demonstrated as much in the two Austria races, but in the preceding Paul Ricard race things were rather more nuanced. The Red Bull advantage was not as clear-cut and once Lewis Hamilton had taken the lead at Turn 1 after Max Verstappen ran wide, it looked like he had the race under control. The Red Bull was not sufficiently faster that Verstappen could overtake on track and as Hamilton steadily built up a lead of over 3sec during the first stint, it was difficult to see any strategic way for Red Bull to break Hamilton’s command.