F1 | Styrian GP | The 'Bulls' more comfortable in Styria
Max Verstappen and Alexander turned the page quickly after the sour debut of season: they have been one of the three teams to put their cars into the top ten of both Friday's sessions.
Probably it's more than a name change: a new weekend is another page, another chance to prove all the good results performed in 2019 were not coming because of Honda PU or from 'Mad Max' aggressive irruence. Because, in the end, we're still talking of the multi-world champion of a decade ago before 'Silver Arrows' weren't in charge.
The 'Bulls' started the first Styrian Grand Prix with a best of first place by the Dutchman and a P6 from Thai Alex Albon. Both cars wee out in the very early minutes of the sessions, clinching a total of 115 cumulative laps for both chassis.
Verstappen is quite confident that car's handling is already better than last week, but as for all the paddock, doubts over feasibility of Saturday's qualifying are mounting:
The car already feels better than last week, the balance is a lot nicer to drive and we have made a good step. It is only Friday practice and of course it is too early to say how we are looking against Mercedes, but from our side I think we are quite happy. We have to see what will happen tomorrow with the weather but otherwise we will find out where we really are on Sunday. Even if tomorrow the weather is too bad for qualifying I expect we will still have Sunday morning to do it, so I don’t expect to be on pole position with this lap.
Getting that Friday feeling @Max33Verstappen 💪 #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #ChargeOn 🤘 pic.twitter.com/dTDTthKJ9b
— Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 10, 2020
On the other hand Albon collected a spin after having lost the rear of the car, naming the possible help from teammate's collected data:
We’ve been getting a bit creative and trying some different things compared to last week’s running here, some of the changes worked and some didn’t, so it’s a bit of a mixed day. The weather for tomorrow is obviously a bit of an unknown so let’s see what happens and if we’re even driving, as every time it’s rained here it’s been a monsoon. Late in the session I pushed a bit too much on the exit of the corner, nothing serious, and lost the rear. Max obviously had a good session and is comfortable with the car so hopefully we can learn a little bit from his side of the garage and take a step forward.
