Red Bull vs McLaren: A Tight Race at the Imola Grand Prix
Max Verstappen, the reigning world champion, faced a challenging FP1 and ended Friday’s sessions in fifth place, albeit slightly improved in FP2. Despite this, he was 0.442 seconds behind McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, setting the pace.
Red Bull’s Performance Woes at Imola
Red Bull introduced several upgrades for Imola, including a reworked engine cover, rear suspension, and rear corner. However, McLaren has also made improvements at this classic Italian venue, making it unlikely that Red Bull has narrowed the gap on its rival over longer stints.
Verstappen admitted, “We tried a lot of bits, some worked better than others, but overall, we’re not fast enough at the moment.” When asked about his confidence in securing a fourth pole position this season, he replied, “At the moment, not very high. We definitely need a bit more work to just get a better through-corner balance to go faster.
During long runs, Verstappen was overtaken by the McLaren, indicating that the team has some ground to cover. Team advisor Helmut Marko echoed this sentiment, stating that Red Bull had made progress since the “depressing” Miami weekend but not enough to compete with .
Marko expressed his disappointment, saying, “McLaren is still, from what it looks like, four tenths ahead – that’s quite a lot on this track.” He added, “We have made some progress with our updates, but we haven’t come much closer. is absolutely superior.
In Miami, Red Bull was seven to ten seconds behind Piastri in the race. At Imola, it appears that the gap has narrowed to around four tenths. Marko remains optimistic, stating, “Let’s wait and see how qualifying goes and how the tyre degradation is in the race. It seems like that has improved a bit.
There’s one positive note: Yuki Tsunoda is within a tenth of Verstappen and handling the current setup well.
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