Max Verstappen believes that his Red Bull is "a bit too slow" after the first two practice sessions in Melbourne. Red Bull was ahead of Ferrari, but fell behind them after the second session.
Verstappen only completed eight laps in FP2 as he made a mistake at turn twelve, running through the gravel. He was forced to return to the garage with a damaged floor.
The damage meant that the Dutchman missed out on a long run, and not collecting valuable data for the team: "I had a bit of understeer, went off track and damaged the floor," Verstappen confirmed. "We are just trying to find a better balance. At the moment I think we are a bit too slow. We're trying to improve."
Verstappen's team mate Daniel Ricciardo agrees, claiming they were on the pace in FP1 but it fell away in the afternoon: "FP1 was promising, we tried a few things in FP2 but didn't work as we'd like."
However, he believes the team can exploit more pace, and thinks at least one Mercedes is in reach: "I think we can still get more out of it. "Mercedes for sure is quick, but it's more Lewis at the moment, than Valteri [Bottas]. Valtteri looks like he's in our group. I think we can be there. Pole would be a stretch, but we can be in that next group."
Fergal Walsh
Local time
Local time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
Replies (2)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Bit of a shame for Red Bull, will they have a '2016 Ferrari' season?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Im not sure, it looks like it will be pretty close between Red Bull and Ferrari this year.