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Red Bull’s drivers did not sound optimistic following two practices at the Monaco Grand Prix
As far as Fridays go, this was not the start Red Bull wanted to see at the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
Sergio Pérez finished P12 and P8 in the first two practice sessions in Monaco, and Max Verstappen fared little better. The three-time Drivers’ Champion finished 11th in FP1, and fourth in FP2.
But beyond that was how both Red Bull drivers, along with Senior Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, sounded during, and after, the two practice sessions. During Friday’s practices Verstappen aired a number of frustrations with the RB20, at one point comparing driving it around the circuit to being a “kangaroo:”
Verstappen continued his frustrated tone speaking with the media in Monaco.
“I don’t think I even can describe what is actually going on. It’s just very difficult. It’s not something that I didn’t expect, but it’s definitely at the higher end of the worst possible outcome of the weekend so far,” described Verstappen to F1.com.
“There are a lot of bumps, kerbs and camber changes as well in the track, and for us that is basically impossible to take. Every time that we go over it, we lose a lot of lap time, just because the car doesn’t ride it well,” continued the Red Bull driver. “That is definitely hampering us at the moment to go faster. There is also I think no real, clear direction or solution for the weekend to try and solve something like that.”
Verstappen struck a similar tone a week ago, when he struggled during the first practice session at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Of course you probably know how that story ends, with Verstappen capturing pole position and holding off a late charge for the victory.
However, the Red Bull driver saw some differences between the two Fridays.
“Imola was completely different, also different issues that you can solve with set-up,” added Verstappen. “These kind of things you cannot solve with set-up.
“It’s how the car is made and designed, and these kind of things you cannot change overnight, so we are stuck with that. We’ll try to make it a little bit better but I don’t expect any miracles,” continued the Red Bull driver.
He then pointed at one of Red Bull’s rivals.
“[Ferrari] are miles ahead,” added Verstappen. “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 driveable, and then we’ll see where we end up.”
For his part, Pérez also pointed at the team in red as the ones to catch, and did not sound optimistic.
“Ferrari at the moment are just not reachable,” said Pérez in Monaco. ”I think they’re really strong and whenever they need the lap, they just seem to put it on really easy, really quick.
“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.”
Rounding out the trio of despondency was Marko. The Red Bull Senior Advisor even undercut one of the bright spots for the team on Friday, which was how they looked on the longer runs. “In terms of the set-up, we’re not yet where we want to be,” described Marko. “We’re currently going too hard and we don’t know yet whether we’ll find a solution by qualifying, even if the long runs look good. But that’s no use here if you don’t start at the front.”
As Marko well knows, qualifying is pretty much the ballgame in Monaco.
Again, we have seen this before, just last week in fact as noted above.
But with qualifying critically important at the Monaco Grand Prix, the clock is ticking. Red Bull has a long night ahead of them, and one more practice session, to get things right.
