Red Bull grapples with performance at Monza, with Verstappen leading yet Pérez encountering difficulties.
It is challenging to gauge Red Bull’s standing at Monza following the initial day of free practice. Max Verstappen secured the fastest lap in FP1, yet the Dutchman made numerous errors, including one during his sole lap on soft tyres in FP2, which relegated him to 13th for the day.
“I tried to decipher a few things today. We lacked pace in FP2, but we were quicker over the long runs. We’re being aggressive with the tyres at the moment, so it’s interesting to see how that evolves for the race,” noted Verstappen.
“We have some positive directions for developing the car a bit further. It’s going to be very tight between several cars this weekend, and I believe we can be in the right group.”
Verstappen acknowledged some positive aspects, but the team now needs to perfect everything: “We’re exploring different setup directions; that’s what practice is for. We want to learn more about the car, and that’s why we do it.”
“We still have some work to do to be competitive. FP1 was good, the start of FP2 less so, but it improved over the long runs, so we need to put everything together to be competitive.”
Sergio Pérez was behind his teammate throughout the day, in part because a gearbox issue prevented him from running in FP2: “We’re somewhat behind. The session was disrupted by issues.”
“We encountered a few mechanical problems and must wait to see how to master the car. The long runs look positive, which is promising, but we are unsure about the setup, and we had issues.”
“The problems persist; we’re battling them, trying to do as much as possible. We hope to make a significant step forward tomorrow, particularly over a single lap, and we want to be in a position to contend for the race.”
Horner Denies Red Bull is in “Crisis”
Christian Horner has addressed concerns from key figures within Red Bull, including Max Verstappen, his father Jos, and even Helmut Marko, who have all pressured him to steer the team out of what they perceive as a crisis. However, Horner disputes this characterization.
“I think the word ‘crisis’ is quite strong, but we do need to understand where we can improve the car and identify the problems. Clearly, Max has been quite outspoken, but he has a very clear vision of the car, and we are just comparing this to the data, and then obviously addressing areas where we can make improvements. We’re gaining a better understanding of what’s going on; it was certainly an interesting first day.”
“So I disagree with the term ‘crisis.’ I would say there is pressure from our competitors, so we need to respond to that. We are very much aware of this, and the biggest issue is managing the balance we have in the car. If we can get that right, the competitiveness will follow, so it’s a key feature of the RB20. Once that’s addressed, tyre degradation will improve, and everything will get better. We’re working very hard to master what we have, and I am hopeful for progress.”
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An ‘Interesting’ Day for Verstappen, ‘Troubles’ for Pérez An ‘Interesting’ Day for Verstappen, ‘Troubles’ for Pérez
