Formula 1 | Red Bull, Verstappen optimistic: “We can improve”

Third position for Max Verstappen at the end of the first free practice on the Le Castellet track. Despite some small problems during the morning, the Dutchman managed to put together some good mileage during the hour and a half of work in the afternoon, collecting various useful data in view of tomorrow. One of the key factors for the weekend will be tire management and the team, according to the talent of Red Bull, will be able to exploit all the data collected, finding the right compromise between performance and consumption.

Here are the words of Max Verstappen: “I'm quite happy with today's responses. We lost some time in free practice 1 due to a tire problem and this had a huge impact. I have never driven on this track and therefore I needed to accumulate kilometres. However, we managed to make up for lost time, putting together good mileage and testing several new components."

“We need to understand the track better and adapt the car to it, both on the aerodynamic and tire fronts”, he continued. “Here it is difficult to find the right balance between the three tire choices. They are very sensitive on this track and given the heat it seems that each compound needs a different set-up. We are optimistic because we have a whole evening to find the right compromise.”

“Mercedes seems very strong and we need to improve, Fridays are never perfect, especially on a new track like this. The wind has a big influence on lap times and we also don't know if overtaking is possible here. I haven't been close to another car, so we'll only find out in the race."he concluded.