Red Bull had another shaky Friday at the F1 Monaco Grand Prix. Once again they’ll have to make major adjustments going into Saturday.
Verstappen was able to clock a 1:12.984 during FP1, 0.8s behind Lewis Hamilton at the top of the charts as he ended up 11th. FP2 fared better for the Dutchman, clocking a 1:11.813, albeit 5 tenths behind home hero Charles Leclerc as he was P4.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Verstappen as he complained about his car“jumping like a kangaroo”.
“It’s not something that I didn’t expect, but yeah, it’s definitely at the higher end of the worst possible outcome of the weekend so far. It’s just very difficult. A lot of bumps and kerbs and just camber changes as well in the track.
“For us, that is basically impossible to take. Every time that we go over it, we lose a lot of lap times just because the car doesn’t ride well. That is definitely hampering us at the moment to go faster.”
The Dutchman is not confident about the direction of the car for this weekend to try to get more out of the RB20. Verstappen isn’t keen on having their issues completely remediated. Unlike Imola, some of the issues they’re facing are from the car’s design, says Verstappen.
“There’s also, I think, no real clear direction or solution for the weekend to try and solve something like that.
“Yeah, but Imola was completely different. Also, different issues that you can’t solve with set-up. These kind of things you cannot solve with setup because that’s how the car is made and designed and these kind of things you cannot change overnight. So we’re stuck with that. We’ll try to make it a little bit better, but I don’t expect any miracles.”
Verstappen sees Ferrari as far ahead of them. They’re now only focusing on how to remedy their own issues and make the car suitable for his preferences.
“Yeah, they’re miles ahead, so I’m not even thinking about that for tomorrow. I just want to try and solve the issues that we have, try and make it a little bit more drivable and then we’ll see where we end up, but I don’t expect any miracles.”
The 26-year-old had to push quite a bit to extract more in the practice sessions. Seeing as they now know the core issue is the car’s erratic behaviour, their focus is to make the car drive able.
“I had a lot of fun driving. I mean, it was good, but it was very difficult. When the car is not really doing what you want around here with all the bumps, it’s very easy to have one extra jump and you’re already against the wall.
“So I think maybe in that sense today was a good lesson, maybe that we can function that for tomorrow, that we know when the car jumps and bounces. Yeah, just difficult, but I knew that coming into the weekend that it was going to be very difficult and in that way I’m also not surprised to see Ferrari so quick.”
Sergio Perez, meanwhile, has not had the smoothest of practice sessions either. He clocked a 1:13.229 in FP1 to be 12th, a second behind session topper Lewis Hamilton. FP2 meanwhile was a little better, only 8 tenths behind with a 1:12.099.
The car felt rough around the edges for the Mexican F1 driver, as they try to scramble at the issues plaguing them at this track. However, Perez is positive about their pace in the long runs.
“It’s going to be tough, I think our limitations are really hard to get away from them at the moment and they’re right so yeah we’ll see what we are able to come up with tonight.
“We run two cars slightly different, I don’t know what the issues for Max were so plenty of things, the long run pace seems to be in a better condition but obviously it’s just too late so yeah we just have to wait and see.”
Perez however, says that Ferrari isn’t reachable at this circuit. Saying that it looked like they have clocked in the laps rather easily and is rather confident to be able to put in the lap around the circuit.
The fastest driver on Friday is the home hero Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque has been confident in pushing faster and faster laps around the Monte Carlo circuit, and has already beaten the 2023 pole position time in FP2.
“I think Ferrari at the moment are just not reachable, I think they’re really strong.
“It’s something that is quite a benefit around this place, to be able to put the lap in quick and whenever you need it to, and don’t struggle so much with tyres and that sort of thing.
“They’re looking very strong at the moment.”
Perez says there is a short list of issues they need to fix overnight to fare better against their rivals, but he is aware that Red Bull are on the back foot this weekend.
“I don’t think it’s only one, I think we’ve got a few items that we need to be able to improve and hopefully it can put us back in the fight and just be closer to the top, you know I think it’s looking tough at the moment.”
