Max Verstappen has admitted that Red Bull need to “focus” if want to salvage their Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend, following a tough Friday Practice.
Having retired from last year’s race with a puncture which caused him to spin off, Verstappen was dealt further bad luck after a driveshaft issue forced him to retire the car just past the finish line just 11 minutes into FP2 to leave him with just 26 laps across both sessions today.
The 23 year-old however is optimistic of his chances at pole tomorrow, saying; “The car felt alright in FP1 and it is difficult to say how the second session would have been but we will still be able to look at the data and see what we can do better for tomorrow in terms of balance.”
Verstappen also admitted that although he would of preferred to have gotten more running in FP2, he doesn’t feel that “… missing running in FP2 is the end of the world as we know what we need to do tomorrow.”
Simply hinting at what he specifically needed to improve, Verstappen said; “We just have to focus on ourselves and make sure we get the best out of our package.”
Verstappen however wasn’t the only Red Bull driver to encounter lost running after teammate, Sergio Perez collided with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon during FP1 in what Stewards described as an “unfortunate miscommunication of timing” due to loss of team radio for both drivers.
Speaking on that incident, Perez said; “With the incident this morning, we didn’t have radio so I think there was a miscommunication through there and I think it was just bad timing.”
The Mexican however managed to deliver 40 laps across both sessions and was sixth fastest in FP2, although his main focus is still on understanding the car’s behaviour on different tracks.
Explaining his programme, Perez spoke of how “… track conditions are obviously very different here compared to Bahrain,” so is learning how the car behaves on different circuits.
Perez nevertheless is confident that progress has been made, commenting; “We’ve learnt a lot today as a Team and for every lap I do, I learn a few tricks here and there.
“The race pace seems to be strong and the car felt good, hopefully we can pull it all together in qualifying tomorrow.”
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