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Max Verstappen did not have the best of practice sessions on Friday. The Red Bull driver was visibly struggling with the balance of the car throughout the session. It became even more evident in the low fuel run where Verstappen struggled his way through the lap and was almost half a second slower than the time set by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.
Things did, however, change for the better when Verstappen did his long run and his times were remarkably better than those set by other drivers on the grid. Regardless, the Dutchman did not take too much solace from that and felt he needed to do more laps to give a more accurate judgment on where he is in the pecking order.
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Max Verstappen said:
“The second free practice was a little more difficult for us. We didn’t have the balance we were hoping for, but we were also trying a few different things with the car. We will dive in and try to be closer tomorrow. In the long run, it is a little better, but the tires get very hot and it is difficult to estimate where we are.”
“But we know we still have some work to do. Overall, this track is tough on tyres, I think we all needed a few more laps to have a more accurate look at the long runs.”
Max Verstappen's teammate also not too comfortable with the car
Max Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez also did not have a smooth run on Friday. The Mexican driver had a spin in FP1 and his time in FP2 was rather underwhelming.
Claiming that there is work that still needs to be done before he gains some confidence in the car, Perez said:
“We had a delay in this session due to a bit of an issue with one of the roll bars but it was nothing major. I am not overly comfortable with the car at the moment, I think there is some good work and understanding to be done overnight. We also only had a short stint on the soft tyre but hopefully tomorrow we are able to pull it all together and be in the fight for qualifying and the race on Sunday.”
Max Verstappen currently enjoys a 38-point lead from Charles Leclerc in the drivers' championship. The Red Bull driver has not won a race since the 2022 F1 Canadian GP and will be looking to repeat the heroics of last year when he beat Lewis Hamilton to win the race at Circuit Paul Ricard.
