Max Verstappen Assesses Red Bull’s Performance in Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Practice

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen expressed some concerns about Red Bull’s performance during the long runs at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Despite showing a “better” feeling on one-lap pace, Verstappen stated that overall performance for long runs is still not up to his expectations.

Red Bull Struggles with Tyre Management in Long Runs

In the second practice session (FP2), Verstappen finished third, 0.28 seconds behind McLaren after a run on the soft tyre. Despite the smoother track surface and lower degradation levels, Red Bull was expected to perform better in long runs due to its troubles with tyre management.

However, Verstappen noted that the longer stints were still “very tough” as the team experimented with different setups across the two Friday sessions. He stated, “We tried some different things with the car, trying to find maybe a different direction with it, and I think we learned a lot from it.

Verstappen expects Red Bull to improve overnight and acknowledged McLaren‘s significant advantage over other teams, as Lando Norris set the fastest time in FP2 at 1m28.267s. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was close in pace before crashing during the closing stages of FP2.

Comparing Performance with Bahrain and Adjusting Setups

Verstappen noted that the feeling at this track is different from Bahrain due to the varying grip levels and completely different setups. He added, “I think one standout is of course again McLaren being very competitive, but from our side there’s still quite a bit of work to do and things to understand.