Max Verstappen struggles with car setup while Yuki Tsunoda crashes out in Saudi Arabia, leaving both drivers with work to do ahead of qualifying.
Max Verstappen ended the first day of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in ninth place, after struggling with the car’s behavior in certain corners during both practice sessions. The Red Bull driver acknowledged that there is still work to be done on the RB21 ahead of qualifying and the race.
“Today, we tried a few different things with the car and explored a new direction. I think we’ve learned a lot from today’s sessions, but we’re not quite where we want to be yet. In the end, it’s all about feeling the car and assessing what you get from it,” Verstappen said.
“On a single lap, things are slightly better, but long stints are still tough. Compared to Bahrain, the car’s grip and setup are completely different, so it’s hard to compare to last week. But one thing’s clear: we want to be faster. It’s hard to say how competitive we’ll be tomorrow; McLaren looks really strong. We still have work to do and things to figure out, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Yuki Tsunoda showed solid pace throughout the day, often close to Verstappen’s times, but ended his session with a crash in the final corner. “I over-rotated, touched the inside wall, and damaged the car. After that, I lost control. I apologize to the team, everything was going well, it’s just unfortunate,” Tsunoda explained.
“The qualifying sim lap was pretty good. I had a bit of trouble with tire warming, but overall, it’s been okay. I had limited time on the long stints, which I caused with my crash, so I can’t really complain,” he added.
“This definitely wasn’t the finish I was hoping for. Short stints went okay; I just made some compromises with tire warming, so I’ve got a bit more time in the bag for the next runs.”
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Verstappen Battles Setup, Tsunoda’s Crash Ends Day Early Verstappen Battles Setup, Tsunoda’s Crash Ends Day Early
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