Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing’s F1 team representative, explained the problems with Max Verstappen’s first day practice.
After some exploratory runs, including contact with the wall on the first free practice, Red Bull Racing returned Max Verstappen to the pits, where the mechanics removed the bodywork and swarmed behind the RB18. ..
“The cars in the garage on the Max side were a little hot, so they just investigated why,” Christian Horner told Sky Sport F11.
“There was a little debris or something in the corner, which is why I was doing a little maintenance on the car.”
For FP2 Red Bull Racing chose to replace the gearbox. In other words, I ended up spending the first part of the session in the garage. No grid penalty is imposed on Verstappen as the exchange is within the limit of four in the season.
“There was no visible damage, but I don’t want to take the risk and sit by my side throughout the session to observe human behavior,” said Christian Horner.
“I decided I should sacrifice a little time. The red flag (due to Carlos Sainz’s crash) was lucky.”
However, shortly after leaving the pits for FP2, Max Verstappen slowed down with more problems. His right rear brake appeared to have ignited.
Max Verstappen, who couldn’t steer the car properly, reported on the radio, “I can’t do anything. I’m really sorry,” and returned to the pits.
“He had a terrible day,” Christian Horner recalled on Max Verstappen’s first day.
“This morning he had a problem, so as a precautionary measure he replaced one of the gearbox and cooler. Then he left the pit lane and had a hydraulic problem. Unfortunately, it was on the rear brakes. Damaged “
“It was a terrible day anyway. He ran a few laps and all five laps of the time lap were competitive, but thankfully he didn’t lose much with the red flag, but he lost that track time. Is frustrating. “
Rival Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in FP1 and finished second in FP2.
Christian Horner says he’s intrigued by this weekend’s power map, given the all-new challenge at the Miami venue, which mixes tight and winding sections with several long straights.
“We aimed for the best setup we could think of … our simulator taught us about this circuit,” said Christian Horner.
“Ferrari was lowering the wing level. We saw it actually straight and fast in Jeddah, but the low and medium speed Ferraris were so fast that the wing in that area was working for them. “
“It’s fascinating to see how the wing level works here, and whether it’s going up or down for future sessions.”
Category: Category: F1 / Red bull