On the back of a tough Bahrain Grand Prix, reigning champion Max Verstappen displayed a more promising performance on the opening day at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, the Dutchman indicated that there is still work to do on the long runs.
Reigning champion Max Verstappen finished third in the second free practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The four-time World Champion was just under three-tenths of a second slower on his fastest lap than McLaren’s Lando Norris, who topped the timesheets.
The Hasselt-born driver insisted that while he was delighted with the one-lap pace of his car, he was left to rue his car’s performance during the heavy-fuel long runs.
“Today we tried some different things with the car and worked to find a different direction. I think we learned a lot from the sessions today, but it is still not quite where we want the car to be.
“I think at the end of the day you just have to go from your own feeling and assess what you get from the car. Over one lap it’s a bit better but the long runs are still tough. Compared to Bahrain, the grip levels and set up of the car is completely different so it is very difficult to compare to last week, but it is still clear that we want to be faster.
“For tomorrow, it is difficult to say how competitive we will be; the McLarens look really competitive. There is still a bit of work to do and things to understand, so we will see.”
His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finished tenth in the opening practice, but he managed to improve his pace for the evening’s practice session. The Japanese driver ended up sixth in the second practice, but his day took a premature end after as he finished in the barrier at the final turn after clipping the wall on the inside, breaking his suspension which sent him into the barrier on the exit.
“First, a big apology to my Team today about the accident, I just turned in too much and clipped the wall and inside wheel. I had damage after that and just had no control. It is frustrating because the pace was looking good, so it’s a shame but also a positive, as I was getting the car in a good window.
“We had limited time on the long run, caused by myself, so I can’t really complain. I didn’t want it to end up this way. My last soft run was also compromised with the warmup and everything, so we don’t have a great read for qualifying but so far, the weekend has felt pretty okay. Importantly, my confidence level is still pretty good here,” concluded Tsunoda.
F1
