Max Verstappen delivers glum Red Bull verdict after F1 Imola GP FP1 and FP2
Max Verstappen delivered a downbeat verdict about Red Bull after the first day of running in the F1 Imola GP FP1 and FP2. The Dutch driver is coming to the track on the back of a somewhat disappointing race in Miami.
At the race, the driver finished more than half a minute behind the race-winning duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Coming to Imola, Red Bull, just like every other team on the grid, has brought a set of upgrades to the car. Imola is the first European race of the season, and hence it makes it easier for teams to bring their first major alterations to the track.
Red Bull is also one of the teams that has brought a few parts to improve car performance and close the gap to McLaren. After FP2, Max Verstappen was around four-tenths down on the benchmark time. Indicating that maybe the gap is still quite big to the reigning champion team.
Talking to Sky Sports after the day, the driver did not sound too confident as he said:
"We tried a lot of bits, some worked better than others but yeah overall not fast enough at the moment."
After the opening six races in the season, Max Verstappen has the highest number of pole positions in the season with three so far. On a track like Imola, qualifying is important and could potentially decide who wins or loses. When questioned if he felt he had a chance to secure a pole, the Dutch driver said:
"At the moment not very high. We definitely need a bit more work to just get a better through corner balance to go faster."
Max Verstappen not too optimistic about the long run pace either
Max Verstappen did start the day struggling a bit with the car. The driver did slowly dial out the complications from the car, and by the time the day came to an end, he was around four-tenths behind the McLaren duo, even though the Red Bull did appear to be more stable as the day progressed.
While Max Verstappen was quite blunt in his assessment, he didn't hold back in pointing out how McLaren just breezed past him when the duo were on the long runs. He said:
"In the long runs I got overtaken by the McLaren, so that that says enough, right? They pull away. But even then, compared to other teams around us, it was a bit tough today."
On a track like Imola, overtaking is very hard, and hence qualifying is very important. It would be important to see which of the drivers nail it, as they would then be destined to have a strong race as well.