Max Verstappen ended Friday’s two free practice sessions in third place, but Red Bull Racing faces a specific issue to address before the qualifying session for the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix. The four-time champion reported steering and gear-shifting difficulties, and said the team needs to fix the issue.
Nevertheless, Verstappen regarded Friday at Interlagos as positive. The work was focused on extracting more performance and, above all, achieving greater consistency in the car, as well as gaining a better understanding of tire behavior during longer stints: “The session went reasonably well today. We’re always looking to squeeze a bit more performance while also trying to find more consistency in our overall performance,” Verstappen said.
“Tivemos alguns problemas que precisaremos corrigir antes da sessão de classificação. Ainda há um pouco de trabalho a fazer, mas nada muito grande. Vamos nos concentrar em maximizar nosso desempenho e talvez torcer por um pouco de chuva”, disse ele.
Isack Hadjar also showed competitiveness during the day, finishing FP1 in sixth and FP2 in ninth. The driver assessed that the car delivered a consistent performance, especially in the long stints of the first session, although there is still work to be done on balance.
The second practice, however, brought more difficulties after the team pursued a different direction with the setup: “FP2 was more challenging, as we took a different setup direction, which didn’t work exactly as we expected,” Hadjar said.
According to the driver, Red Bull has already identified where it needs to improve and will make further adjustments before Saturday’s activities. With a chance of rain, Hadjar noted that the team will also need to adapt to the weather conditions, but he believes there is still room to take another step forward with the car.
