Verstappen feeling positive despite subdued Friday practice
Max verstappen insisted that Red Bull were pleased by the outcome of Friday's practice session for the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Verstappen was quickest of anyone in FP1 with a time of 1:21.676s that put him a quarter of a second clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. But the second session looked a little more of a struggle for the reigning world champion.
Verstappen was slow to set a time and never topped the timesheets on the medium tyres. When it came to soft compound, Verstappen didn't set a representative time after having to abort his lap due to a mistake heading into Parabolica.
That left him in the unusually low position of 13th at the end of the session, with his team mate Sergio Perez one place further after missing the first half hour as Red Bull completed a precautionary gearbox change on his car.
"We tried quite a few things today and FP2 was not that great," Verstappen reported after the end of the session. "FP1 felt quite decent, FP2 maybe not as much in the beginning.
"But the long run was a little bit more competitive," he insisted. "It felt better in the long run, so we just need to be able to bring it together to be in the mix.
"We have some good directions for the car, we just need to tidy it up a bit," he speculated. "Then I think it will be quite close between a lot of cars, and hopefully we can be in that mix."
Verstappen explained that they had needed to spend some time experimenting with the setup of the RB20 after they finished alarmingly off the pace of the race-winning McLaren in last week's Dutch GP.
"We are chasing a few paths because there is not a clear path for this car," he admitted. "That's why we were doing it.
"[We've been] trying different directions, but at the end of the day that's what practice is for," he said. "Also for things that we might want to learn about the car."
The team is also having to check how the car is behaving on the track this week, after Monza was resurfaced and changes made to the kerbs in key corners ahead of the weekend.
"It seems quite aggressive on the tyres at the moment," Verstappen said when he asked about the new asphalt. "They are opening up and it is quite interesting how that will evolve for the race."
"We are better than it looks," agreed Red Bull motorsports consultant Dr Helmut Marko. “Basically we are much better than in Zandvoort. Yes, much better," he insisted, suggesting that "it’s four cars in the mix" this weekend.
“In the long run, until graining started, we were very competitive, but then the drop-off was a little bit radical," he acknowledged. “The graining starts after five to seven laps.
"It came when he had to slow down, I think, for a car in front of him, so we have to sort that. He has to go flat out all the time to solve it.
"The tarmac is getting better and better with every lap, so let’s see what happens," he continued. “We will have to sort out if it’s a one or two-stop.
"There's no rain around. We have two F3 and F2 races so I think [the track] should improve. And the more it improves the less the chances for graining should be.”
As for Perez, the Mexican admitted that “we're a bit [on] the back foot" after losing time today. "We had a few mechanical issues, so I think we just have to wait and see what actually the car is doing to get on top of.
“The positive thing is probably the long run. It looked a little bit more promising. But we are just nowhere with set-up, it’s changing corner to corner. I think it’s quite easy to sort it out, but it won’t be as easy as we'd hoped.
“The car, the issues are still there,” he answered. “We’re fighting them, we’re trying to make the most out of it. Hopefully tomorrow we are able to take a good step."
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