Although Red Bull are the favourites going into this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, having shown their potential during testing, the reigning champions have struggled with car setup thus far.
Despite strong performances from both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez during Friday practice, placing the Red Bull drivers comfortably towards the top of the timesheets, Friday was anything but straightforward for the team who struggled to find a strong balance in the car until late on Friday.
“FP1 was really bad…”
The team’s difficulty allowed Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin to trouble the champions, splitting the Red Bulls in FP1 and beating both to the top in FP2. Verstappen, although calm and collected, was surprised by the difficulty the team were having after their strong showing during testing.
“Yeah, difficult start of the day,” admitted Verstappen. “FP1 was really bad, I just couldn’t get a balance, which was a bit odd because in testing whatever we tried, … some things were maybe not amazing, but not that far out.
“So, a few things to understand, even the start of FP2 was a bit difficult.”
Although the team initially struggled, Verstappen is happy with the direction they have gone with the car setup, claiming his final run was “not too bad”.
“But then I think for the final run, even though not really having a good reference and confidence up until then in the car, the lap was not too bad in the short run and also the car felt a bit more connected.
“And then in the long run, with all the changes we made, I was quite surprised that it was the pace we had. I just need to find my rhythm again with the car and and just the way the car is driving from short run to long run.”
“We have some work to do over one lap…”
Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, also admits to struggling during both sessions, noting the temperature change from the first to second session makes it difficult to set up for qualifying and the race.
“It was quite tricky out there,” Perez told Sky Sports. “The temperature from morning to afternoon changes quite a lot so the only representative session was this evening. We have some work to do over one lap and that should automatically put us in better shape for the long run.”
Despite a mixed day for himself and Red Bull, the two time champion Verstappen’s confidence was not knocked, claiming the RB19 is “very fast” over one lap when he is confident to push it.
“If I feel happy in the car again and that I can push like I want to push with the car on one lap then, for sure we are very fast,” he said. “But it’s also of course making sure that the car doesn’t fall out of the window for the long run.”
When quizzed on Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso’s strong Friday showing, neither Verstappen nor teammate Sergio Perez seemed surprised with both Red Bull men noting Aston Martin had caught the attention of many in the paddock during testing last week.
“They are quick, but you could see that already in testing that they were very competitive, so yeah, they had a great day.” Verstappen Said. “For us there’s still a bit of work to do. We know that we have a very competitive car just now putting all the pieces together.”
“I think everything is tight at the top.”
Perez, on the other hand, went further still with the Mexican driver acknowledging the pace of both Aston Martin and Ferrari. Perez went on to say he expects a stiff challenge from both teams and a close battle at the top.
“We knew from testing already that they were going to be very strong that they were going to be very competitive,” said Perez. “No surprises to be honest, I think it just confirms how strong they are.
“I think everything is tight at the top. The Astons, the Ferraris … I think it’s going to go down to who puts the best lap together and obviously, who has the better race pace on Sunday.”
