Max Verstappen: “To win here you would need a lot of luck”

First time ad Hockenheim behind the wheel of a Formula 1 for Max Verstappen, which finished Friday in fourth place, behind the Ferrari di Hag and in front of his boxmate Ricciardo. The young man of Red Bull he said he was satisfied with this start to the weekend, and is confident of further improvement over the course of the weekend. Winning, however, appears to be an almost impossible task, while Ricciardo, thanks to the excellent race pace shown in the FP2, he is confident.

“It went well, we had a good start to the day and to the weekend in general,” began the Dutch driver at the end of the day. “I think the car gave good sensations: we are not too far from the best after the second free practice session, so we can be satisfied. I think the car still has room for improvement but overall it was a positive Friday."

Asked about Turn 1, this weekend's bête noire regarding compliance with the limits on the track, Verstappen he said: “I don't know, everyone went wide at Turn 1, so I'll have to see what they say in the drivers' briefing.” What about a possible win this weekend? “I don't think it will be possible, to win we would need a lot of luck but if we manage to be close we will be very happy,” concluded the young Max.

“I like running here,” he added Ricciardo. “It's a nice, fairly smooth track. The last sector is fun but tricky when it comes to tyres. There are some tight corners where the rears suffer more and then in the final part the corners are longer where there is a risk of damaging the front, so finding the optimal balance is not easy. But in FP2 we went better from this point of view, so I'm happy with where we are."

“With a full tank of petrol we got pretty close to Mercedes, which is promising. The stints in the afternoon went very well so if we can repeat ourselves in the race I think we will have an excellent chance of success. I'm also trying to keep up with all these new rules but honestly I've never given it too much thought. It will be like this for everyone so we just have to throw ourselves in, run and deal with what we have,” concluded the Australian.