Max Verstappen insisted Red Bull’s lack of performance in Friday practice sessions this year has been genuine.
His consistently strong performances in qualifying have yielded three pole positions, tying him with Oscar Piastri for the most of any driver. But Verstappen has tended to lag far off the pace in Friday practice, only to suddenly lap much quicker the next day.In Friday practice for the last round at Imola, Verstappen lapped nearly half a second off the McLaren drivers and was less than a tenth of a second faster than team mate Yuki Tsunoda. Red Bull were also further off their 2024 pace than any team.
But in final practice on Saturday, Verstappen closed to a tenth of a second off pace-setter Lando Norris and was over a second faster than Tsunoda. Red Bull narrowly beat their 2024 pace in qualifying, as did McLaren.
Verstappen denied the team is deliberately disguising its pace on Fridays and said the swings in performance are a result of it trying to find the best set-up for its RB21.
“I wish I knew why the Fridays are not always great,” he said in yesterday’s FIA press conference. “We don’t do it on purpose, I swear.
“But it’s been a bit more difficult just to get the car in the right window. I do think we learned quite a bit actually in Imola [about] what we want from the car. It’s not always easy to extract that now on a street circuit compared to Imola, but it was a very useful lesson. It gave me more confidence to push.”
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As is common practice among teams, Red Bull use the data gathered from real-world practice on Fridays as the basis for work on their driver-in-the-loop simulators at their factories, to investigate better ways to refine their car’s set-up.
“We do a lot of simulator work,” said Verstappen. “We have the simulator drivers, we communicate what we want from the car, what we need.
“Unfortunately, our car over the last year-and-a-half – maybe two years – has probably had quite a narrow window. As soon as you’re a little bit left or right, it becomes quite a bit more difficult to drive. That probably translates to a poor Friday.
“But the team is good at analysing and making the right calls for the next day. So, most of the time, we improve the situation – and in Imola, it improved quite a lot.”
He said extracting the best lap time from the car in Monaco is especially difficult because the track condition tends to improve quickly through the weekend as the surface becomes cleaner and grippier.
“Monaco is a special one where you do push, but the track is also coming to you quite a bit even in qualifying. So you just have to be out at the right time.
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“Of course, traffic can be a problem in Q1 – a lot of cars out there. It’s always that fine line of how much you’re willing to risk already, and making sure you’re in a good rhythm.
“At the end of the day, a lot is rhythm, because on a normal track it’s a bit more straightforward. The grip is good, you have space, you get quite comfortable. But around here, I don’t think you ever feel super-comfortable. You’re always on the edge.
“So, through qualifying you follow the track, get into that nice rhythm. Make sure that the car is to your liking, make sure that the tyre is in the right window. It all sounds very easy, but it’s not that straightforward, unfortunately.
“And with the C6 compound now, I have no idea how they’re going to respond around here. That’s something we all have to figure out – all the drivers, all the teams.”
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pcxmac (@pcxmac)
23rd May 2025, 17:57
I think they are carrying extra weight.
And by the way, Max again insists that the tires are not “spec’d” to his car like they used to be almost 2 years ago.
Last year with the media going on and on about Charles it was almost a give-me, with the signaling coming from the FIA and the gaslighting about what it could all be about, I would say Ferrari have a good shot at a podium.
Im sure RBR will comeback stronger tomorrow with a loading profile that better matches the potential of the tires, its hard to imagine RBR not being on pole, its possible. Hopefully it rains and Hamilton takes it all.
Laz
23rd May 2025, 19:43
Well they don’t smadbag in the sense that they add extra weight. But they absolutely don’t show the cars true speed, usually by dialling back the engine settings so that it’s not near peak power output.
An Sionnach
23rd May 2025, 21:13
Given Max’s troubles last year with grid drops, it is probably best not to over-tax those engines.