F1 | Saudi Arabian GP | Red Bull drivers hopeful for a stronger Saturday, as "anything can happen"
The first day on the track have been tough but fun for both Verstappen and Perez in Saudi Arabia, even if they tried some new settings that have not paid off as expected. There is to watch out the traffic though.
Red Bull tested the track for the first time during the two practices session, and the results are very good but they could have been better. With only two races away from the title, Max Verstappen has to give his all on this track to keep his points ahead on a Lewis Hamilton who had been in “Hammer Time Mode” during the last races. During the first session, the Dutchman did 23 laps and was second, while in the second session he lapped 20 times ending fourth, scoring a time of 1:29.213.
“Overall, it’s a really cool track, there are a lot of fast corners and it’s fun to drive,” – Verstappen said. – “We struggled to get heat into the tyres in FP2, which we will of course look into. Then we made a few changes from FP1 to FP2 which didn’t quite work but hopefully we can find the right balance come qualifying tomorrow.”
“There are of course a lot of things to work on and improve, - he continued – so we’ll see what we can do to get more pace out of the car overnight. Looking ahead to qualifying, I think it might be quite difficult with the traffic but in general it’s hard to tell how Saturday is going to go as anything can happen but we’ll push hard and give it everything.”
His teammate, on the other hand, ended the sessions in the middle part of the grid, placing 11th in FP1 and 9th in FP2.
And that's all for Friday 🏁 Max and Checo finish FP2 in P4 and P9 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/Wjuw6MvfPM
— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) December 3, 2021
“It was a lot of fun out there today, it’s a really nice circuit, it is very fast and enjoyable to drive – Perez echoed his teammate’s impressions – It is going to be tricky in qualifying with traffic management, we saw that a bit when everyone was on the soft tyre at the end of FP2. I think it will be an interesting race because this track is challenging, if you make a mistake it can be extremely costly. In qualifying it will all be about trying to be in the right place at the right time.”
“On the long runs we didn’t have enough laps to get a real read on how we will perform, - the Mexican added – so I don’t think my time on the soft tyres was reflective on where we actually are. I think there is plenty more to come from the car, so hopefully we can find the right balance and pace to be in contention in qualifying. It is going to be hard to achieve the perfect lap out there but we also have a long race ahead of us on Sunday and anything can happen. We just have to stay up there and be on it as much as possible.”
