Max Verstappen started his Barcelona weekend well during Free Practice 1 and 2, matching Lando Norris’s fastest lap.
That placed him third overall, behind Russell, but Oscar Piastri was three tenths quicker, showing that McLaren still has strong potential.
“It’s always nice to be here in Barcelona and drive on this circuit. It was quite hot today, especially for the tyres,” Verstappen commented.
“I think it was a good Friday for us and I felt a bit more comfortable with the car. We’re not quite where we want to be yet, but we’ll keep working on it.”
“There’s always room to improve, to optimise performance and find lap time. Of course, every track is different, but we’re making progress through the car’s setup. I’ve had Fridays where things didn’t go well, so I’d say today was a bit more positive.”
Yuki Tsunoda admitted he doesn’t understand his performance, having placed 13th in Free Practice 2.
“The first day on track in Barcelona was difficult.”
“For this opening day, compared to other Grands Prix, I felt good and made good progress between FP1 and FP2, and I have no idea why we were so slow.”
“We need to work to understand the current gap to Max, because I wasn’t expecting this. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s limiting us or causing issues. My lap was good too, considering what happened in FP2. I’m not at 100 percent, but this wasn’t the pace I expected. It’s tough to identify the limits in terms of balance; we’ll see, but I’m struggling.”
“We have a lot to debrief tonight, but I hope we can turn things around tomorrow and deliver a strong qualifying session.”
- Discover More>Spanish Grand Prix – FP2: Piastri leads, tight gaps and strategies taking shape
- Following us on>Facebook et Twitter