F1 News, Reports and Race Results

'Nothing shocking to report' after poor FP2 - Verstappen

Max Verstappen insisted that there were no significant problems at Red Bull, despite a subdued showing for the team in Friday afternoon's second free practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen had been second quickest in the morning but dropped to ninth in the afternoon session after a mistake on his single run on soft option tyres left him without a properly unrepresentative time.

"Overall I think we actually had quite a good day and the car seems pretty competitive," he said afterwards. "There is nothing shocking to report from either session.

Read also: FP2: Hamilton and Bottas end Friday quickest in Barcelona

"How competitive we are going to be tomorrow is always going to be a question mark on a Friday but from our side we are quite happy," he continued.

"Of course you always want to improve and do better so we just have to make sure tomorrow that we are up there but I’m looking forward to it.”

As for that mishap that thwarted his efforts to set a quick lap on the soft option tyres after lunch, he explained: "I was a little bit wide at turn 10 on my push lap in FP2.

"The track changes to Turn 10 seem better over one lap when you are pushing," he said. "It is a bit faster and more enjoyable to drive, but for overtaking I think it could be worse.

Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez also had a quiet day, finishing ninth quickest in the morning and one place behind Verstappen after lunch.

He admitted that it had been "a tricky day today", although in his case the reasons for his lowly standing were somewhat different.

"We had a couple of delays in both sessions, which meant we were rushing a little and running into some traffic," he explained. "With less practice time this year it’s important to get the laps in.

"Tonight we’ve got some understanding to do and pace to find, especially over one lap.

"I think our long run pace is stronger but there’s work to do," he acknowledged. "Let’s see what we can find, because qualifying here is especially important.

"Hopefully we can recover the pace and be in the mix tomorrow.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.