Verstappen: "It was all in all not the best start"

The first two practice sessions of the European Grand Prix brought mixed feelings for Red Bull Racing with both drivers failing to complete first practice after Max Vertappen suffered clutch problems and Daniel Ricciardo crashed.

In second practice both drivers were able to complete many laps but the gap to Mercedes is remained big with Verstappen the team's fastest driver in seventh position, 1.8 seconds from pace-setting Lewis Hamilton.

"I really enjoy the Baku circuit. The track is still slippery and the high speeds on the straights make braking for the corners challenging", Verstappen told his website, Verstappen.nl. "Because I only completed three full laps in FP1, which was really all about getting to know the track, it meant I had to find my comfort zone in FP2 before I could really push and work on the car’s set-up. Luckily I was able to a lot of laps in the afternoon. All in all it wasn’t a great start but it should be better tomorrow."

"Because of the long straights and 90 degree turns, you really have to find a compromise with the set-up," he continued. "But we knew we would lose a lot of time on the straights. The lap times aren’t yet great, but tonight we’ll try to improve the set-up. Saturday should be better."

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  • Team Red Bull Racing
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  • Country NL
  • Date of b. Sep 30 1997 (28)
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