Max Verstappen is pleased that his Red Bull Racing car didn’t have any issues in either of today’s free practice sessions, following a litany of problems that have seen him retire from five of the last seven races.
Max was able to take to Silverstone’s fast, complex corners in the new 2017 car without it breaking down – a challenge that the young Dutch driver enjoyed.
“It was good fun to drive today, the gusty conditions are typical here at Silverstone and it is the same for everyone so you just have to get on with it,” said Verstappen. “This year’s new cars felt quicker through the fast corners and more enjoyable to drive, I knew it would be different but this is nice to see.
“No issues so far, I’m happy about that.”
Verstappen finished third and fifth in today’s free practices, with a fastest lap of 1:29:098s – some 0.602 seconds slower than Valterri Bottas’ fastest of 1:28:496s. Despite Max’s issues so far this season, he’s focusing purely on what he can achieve now, and is starting on the car.
“We can find some improvement in car balance as I feel it changed for the worse between practice one and two, so we will go away and look into that now,” said the Dutchman. “The Ferraris went a bit quicker in the second session and I think we didn’t have a great one, we still have a bit of work to do as I think we can get closer to the guys ahead and also improve our race pace. “
On the subject of tyre choice he echoed the feelings of many other drivers, commenting on how strong the softs are, and suggesting that even a one-stop could be practical.
“There was a bit of a drop off on the supersoft but I think that was expected, the softs however seem to be holding up ok, even so I think a one stop race is optimistic. No issues so far, I’m happy about that.”
