Red Bull still ‘behind the pace’ despite upgrade as Verstappen complains about Hamilton. Max Verstappen sounds the alarm: “We were seriously behind the pace today, we have to fix that,” was the sobering conclusion of the world championship leader after the first day of practice at Imola.
In free practice at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the Dutchman and his team were no match for the leaders. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in both sessions.
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Verstappen was fifth in the first session at 0.250s behind team-mate Sergio Perez. In the second session, he is one place ahead of the Mexican, but in seventh on the grid, the gap has doubled to over half a second compared to midday.
“Just a difficult day, difficult to find a good balance. I just don’t feel comfortable in the car, it’s moving a lot and it’s very easy to lose the car,” lamented Verstappen, who at one point drove wildly through the gravel in the Aqua Minerale rushes and struggled to regain control of the rear end several times when he went over the kerb in the Villeneuve corner.
Verstappen also expresses his anger on the radio: “**** My God, I don’t know, man. Everything is so difficult, man. This time I suddenly have a lot of grip on the front axle and I’m almost spinning,” complained the Dutchman.
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Verstappen slams Hamilton: “Not the first time”
But it’s not just his car’s inconsistent performance that is causing Verstappen frustration on Friday: On a fast lap, the bitter 2021 World Cup rival gets in the way of the Red Bull driver, who then pulls alongside the Mercedes in front of Tosa and makes his displeasure at the incident clear.
“You know, it’s not the first time. Of course you always try to stay calm, but yeah, it just happened again,” said Verstappen, who had actually complained about Hamilton on the radio a few laps before the incident: “Actually, I don’t want to talk about it too much because it’s not our job,” said Verstappen.
The world champion is now keen to focus on the essentials, with Red Bull clearly in an unusual and precarious situation at Imola: “We have to look at a few things now because it was just bad and not pleasant,” said Verstappen.
“The long run was also really bad. So there are definitely some things we need to improve if we want to be competitive tomorrow.”
Verstappen’s frustrated conclusion: “It couldn’t have been worse than today. It was just a bad day for us, but it looks like the others have made a step forward as well.”
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Red Bull upgrades: Major updates to the RB20
The big Imola updates for Ferrari, Mercedes and Co. seem to be paying off. Red Bull also used the start of the European season to unveil its first major update package for 2024, but the previously dominant team is apparently still looking for the philosopher’s stone.
One of the new features of the RB20 is a revised underbody: the World Champion’s technical department has lowered the upper surface of the main floor to improve airflow downwards and increase downforce. The front part of the underfloor has also been modified.
There is also a completely new front wing, and the edges of the end plate have been redesigned to improve cornering stability. The third and fourth wing elements now have a longer chord length to generate more downforce. The nose has also been adapted to the new design, as has the front camera fairing.
Red Bull has also sharpened the rear of the car, reworking the bodywork around the rear wheels for better cooling – and adjusting the wings at the brake air outlet to increase efficiency.
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Wache: “We’re already feeling the pressure”
Friday’s first impressions suggest that Red Bull have traded a working package for a few teething problems, but for technical director Pierre Wache the introduction of the new parts is still inevitable, not least because Lando Norris’ look in Miami recently proved that Red Bull’s rivals are closing in.
“We’re already feeling the pressure to get performance out of the car, but I think that’s the case for everyone. It would be a dream to think that we could sit back and wait and win the World Championship,” explains Wache.
“In this business you have to move forward, otherwise you’re going backwards. Of course we try to improve our performance, whether we won the last race or not. That’s always our mentality,” says the Frenchman.
Commenting on the latest modifications, the 49-year-old added: “I think the visibility of the upgrade may not be so transparent from the outside, but for us it is interesting. What we bring to the car and how we develop it will depend on how our tools react to the performance.
So in reality there is no clearly defined plan, it depends more on what Red Bull can find out and according to Max Verstappen, there wasn’t much good to be found at Imola on Friday.
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As we approach the middle of the month of May, it appears there are other goings on in Formula One land besides Adrian Newey leaving Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes. Ferrari have on the quiet been restructuring their team operations and as the closest challenger to the world championship winning team, Fred Vasseur appears to be making progress.
The iconic Italian reed liveried team this week tested a huge upgrade to the car at a ‘filming’ day win Italy. If we believe the Italian media, this will bring four tenths of a second of lap time, which coincidentally is the average gap Ferrari find themselves behind Red Bull this season. Wishful thinking or reality? We shall find out in…READ MORE ON THIS STORY
