F1 | Emilia Romagna GP | Verstappen Reveals Cause Of FP2 Failure And Calls 'Mercedes' Imola Pace "No Surprise"
Max Verstappen's favorite status for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix didn't support him on Friday, as he was pipped in the first practice session by both Mercedes – while a problem with his RB16B prevented him from completing a representative qualifying simulation lap in Free Practice 2.
Verstappen finished third in FP1 and was right in the mix with Mercedes, just 0.058s behind session leader Valtteri Bottas and 0.017s behind Lewis Hamilton's sister Mercedes – despite a fast final lap being ruined by a late red flag for Nikita Mazepin's spin.
The short tale of @Max33Verstappen's FP2 session 🙁
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 16, 2021
But if anyone can fix a problem, it's @redbullracing's mechanics and engineering team! 👊#ImolaGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/T6ANbAdW0P
However, the battle between the two teams in FP2 was thwarted when Verstappen's Red Bull suffered a problem, forcing him to pull up just 11 minutes into the session before struggling to get back on track.
According to the Red Bull driver, “I had a driveshaft issue so I had to stop the car,”
He continues, “I like Italy, the food is good, I enjoy being here, but just the driving part so far hasn’t been the luckiest… but you know what you have to do anyway so it should be alright.”