Five things we learned from the South African Grand Prix

The South African Grand Prix once again delivered a thrilling battle of tactics and duels throughout the field. The VFC also welcomed a new winner and a number of returnees. But what have we learnt from this race? Today's article answers that question. Have fun!

Fabian Walter can win after all

It's been almost five years since Fabian Walter threw away his most realistic chance of victory in the last round in Great Britain in 2021. Back then, still at Cliffort Royal Racing, Walter was put under pressure by Kevin Peters, who lost the victory due to the aforementioned mistake. And for a long time it seemed that this was nagging at Walter, or rather his only chance of winning a race in the VFC. Since the South Africa race, this assumption has now been put to bed. Walter is thriving at Razor, pushing his own team to peak performance and rewarding himself with his first VFC victory. The famous knot has burst, both for Razor and for Fabian Walter. So the question is: can there be more to come?

Optiminal has two faces

Optiminal is the two-face of the VFC: Sven Schubert has had a strong start to the season so far; a victory, two podiums and the battle for the drivers' world championship speak for themselves. The Swabian also put in another strong performance in Kyalami, keeping Marc Schlüter behind him for a long time and finishing third in the end. Schubert also proved to be on top of his game early in the season, which is unusual for him. The other side of the coin is team-mate Roy Seifert; the Mainz-based driver has had a terrible first three races so far, with penalties, bad luck and accidents. Seifert had hoped to regain his form at Optiminal, but has so far failed to do so. There is no longer another chance; Seifert has announced his retirement to make way for his successor.

Janson Bintz, the rough diamond of Valle

Janson Bintz arrived shortly before the start, had a look at the car and the track and promptly drove to seventh place. According to his own statements, the young Luxembourger was fresh from work and immediately felt comfortable in the car and seemed to have a lot of fun. Bintz was able to keep up with the drivers in the front midfield without much preparation, showed great overtaking manoeuvres, put his team boss in his place and also put experienced drivers in their place. At the same time, however, Bintz was also too fast, which resulted in a pit lane penalty. However, Valle and team boss Ribolli have an absolute diamond in the rough in Bintz, who could become an extremely fast driver and a great asset to the VFC if he is honed correctly.

New tactics provide entertainment

So far, the most popular strategies on the pit lane have been the use of soft and medium tyres. And the majority of the field often use the same idea of starting on soft, running the medium in the middle stint and then switching back to soft. However, this time some drivers decided to change things up a bit, which led to some positive results: Janson Bintz started on mediums and was able to put his opponents under pressure in the second and third stints thanks to the better tyre. Christian Dittmer and Stefan Cerne used the same strategy and finished in the points again or for the first time ever. And Fabian Walter's idea of running the soft tyre in the middle stint probably contributed to his victory. This experience could encourage the drivers to adopt alternative strategies in the coming races.

The midfield is in fluent movement

As in previous races, the midfield is exciting and close together. New faces and drivers, different situations and positions in qualifying mean that the general conditions are always changing. Valle was able to lead the midfield with Ribolli and Bintz and even challenge Blue Horns. Benjamin Reinhardt seems to be constantly improving and at times made it into the top 6. Tim Hauck is also back in the points, while SVL Racing had a black day after the strong result in Kuwait. This all makes for a great battle in the team championship, which will hopefully continue throughout the season.