Tag Archives: Ferrari

Verstappen had a difficult time in Baku qualifying

Max Verstappen endured another difficult Formula 1 qualifying session in Baku, and the Dutchman will start Sunday’s race in sixth place – two spots behind Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez.

Verstappen was generally happier with the car over the weekend after a floor tweak since Monza. However, a last minute set-up change for qualifying made the car worse again.

He still managed to top the times in Q2, but the final session proved difficult, and he made a mistake on his first run.

“It’s always difficult to know of course what will happen in Q3,” he said when asked by this writer if he’d expected more after being fastest in Q2.

“But as soon as I went out in Q1 the first lap, I just felt the car took a step back. We made some changes, and the car just became incredibly unpredictable, difficult, just because of the changes that we made.

“And of course I’m a bit disappointed with that, because you always try to, of course, optimise things and try to make it better. And unfortunately, we just tipped it over the edge.

“Yeah, a shame that that happened into qualifying. Then, of course, my first one in Q3 I lost it in the last corner. Otherwise, you’re still fighting for P2, P3, but then you still have a run, you can still improve your lap time.

“And yeah, just didn’t have the feeling in the car. I didn’t feel comfortable, because the car was difficult.

“And when you don’t feel comfortable and you can’t attack corners, you’re probably a bit under it. And yeah, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Asked if the car was still the “monster” that he described in Monza he denied that was the case.

“No, no, I think what we did improve the car. But now with the setup we tried to of course make a few things better, and unfortunately, it went the other way.

“We changed change some things on the car, where the car just started jumping around a lot, so you lose contact patch with the tarmac.

“I was not happy with the car, already from lap one Q1, so I knew that it was going to be tough qualifying regardless.

“I think my lap in Q2 was actually good, considering all the issues that I had, because personally, I was not happy with how the car was behaving. But of course, you still tried to do the best you can.”

Regarding what has been improved he said: “I think the balance disconnect, but I think naturally it’s any way the track for it.

“But yeah, we’re still working and fine tuning that further from now onwards, to try and just get the balance disconnect more together. Let’s say like that.”

Norris will start a disastrous 17th in Baku

Lando Norris admits that he doesn’t expect “anything magical” to happen for him in Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP after he qualified a frustrated 17^th.

The McLaren driver needed a good time on his final lap in Q1 in order to progress to the second session.

He ran over the kerb on the exit of the lefthander that leads onto the long pit straight, but continued his lap.

However he then caught yellow flags that were displayed as Esteban Ocon toured back to the pits with a puncture after clipping the wall. Having backed off he aborted the lap and pitted.

The grid position is a clear blow to his title aspirations, although rival Max Verstappen will only start sixth.

Asked by this writer if his only hope to score decent points on Sunday was to rely on a strategy Norris agreed.

“I think everything’s kind of going to have to be done with strategy, because you can’t overtake,” he said.

“There’s plenty of cars at the back, which have just kind of taken all the wing off and just hope for the best. And that makes it impossible for a lot of cars to overtake them.

“The car’s quick, and we kind of hope that I can come into our hands and at some point I can get clean air.

“But on a street circuit, everything gets backed up so much, you just kind of get forced into a position, and you can’t do a lot at times. So we’ll hope for the best. But I don’t expect anything magical, unless strategy comes into play.”

Asked what is possible on Sunday he said: “I don’t know how to answer, try and race and go forwards and overtake. But it’s not as simple as saying it.”

Although he was in the position of having to make his final Q1 lap count Norris denied the suggestion that he was on the back foot as the session unfolded.

“No, I wasn’t really on the back foot,” he said. “Just the guy ahead of me crashed and there were yellow flags. I was feeling good.

“I mean, when you have a 2kms two straight and you left lift at the beginning – of course, so nothing I could do, honestly. So of course, a bit disappointed and frustrated, but nothing I can change.”

Bearman had an encouraging first day in Baku

Oliver Bearman impressed his Haas team in Azerbaijan on Friday on what he called a “dry run” ahead of his fulltime Formula 1 graduation next season.

The teenager has stepped into the team as a one-off replacement for Kevin Magnussen, who has been banned for a race after accumulating 12 penalty points.

Baku is his first full F1 race weekend after he was called into action for Ferrari on Saturday in Jeddah earlier this year.

He logged 10th place in FP2, just 0.072s shy of team mate Nico Hulkenberg, at a venue where he shone in F2 last year.

“I was really happy with how we finished,” he said. “The main thing was that I completed all the laps we could. A lot of red flags, a lot of interruptions.

“But I was pretty happy with how things went. I was building up step-by-step, and at the end, I found good confidence with the car. So, yeah, good way to go to sleep and start fresh start tomorrow.

“This whole weekend is a dry run for next year. I’m learning so much. Today was my first FP2 session!

“I’m in a much better place than I was few months ago going into FP3, which is great. And the track is making a big step every time I run. And these are things that I wouldn’t know. It’s my first time doing the full weekend, and I’m learning a lot.”

After the session his engineer praised him on the radio for an “excellent” long run performance, and he was pleased to receive such positive feedback.

“Yeah, it was an encouraging day overall,” he said. “I started with a few question marks. This is a really tough track, and my second F1 race is going to be on another street track.

“So it’s not easy, but I was really happy with how the day went. I made a good step from FP1 to FP2 and I felt comfortable with the car. So what more can you ask for?”

He added: “I’m focusing really on myself, and the encouraging part is that I feel confident in the car, I’m comfortable, which was a bit less the case in FP1, but with the track conditions like that, it’s really tough.

“FP2 I was feeling comfortable, and I felt like I could do what I wanted with the car, and I was controlling it. FP1 was a bit more messy, just for the track state.”

Max Verstappen says that Red Bull is starting to understand more about the weaknesses of the difficult RB20 – but he admits that solving its issues will take time.

Verstappen called the car a “monster” after a difficult Italian GP that saw him qualify seventh and finish sixth, allowing Lando Norris to put a dent in his championship lead.

The Dutchman says that the Monza weekend provided useful lessons to the team about the car.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “But I do think that in a way Monza was positive to learn more about the car, and now it just takes time to make the car better basically, and understand our weaknesses. 

“I think we did. Now it’s about just trying to find solutions for it. I also know that it’s not coming within one or two weeks, from when you understand your problems.

“But yeah, I hope that from now onwards we could just look ahead and try to be better, not like a monster.”

After the Italian race Verstappen said that the drivers’ championship was now unrealistic for him.

Asked by this writer if he stuck with that view he said: “If we perform like Monza, it’s not realistic. So we definitely need to be better than what we have been delivering lately. We know that.”

He added: “I also know that we can do a better job in general, and if we understand our problems, then, yeah, if we can find a better balance with the car, then actually we’ll be more competitive. And if more competitive is enough, I don’t know.”

Verstappen acknowledged that Baku might be more suited to the RB20 despite its problems.

“Yeah, it’s a completely different track. So for sure, you have different kind of limitations, potentially, but we’ll see throughout the weekend.”

Verstappen downplayed the impact of Adrian Newey stepping back from the frontline duty earlier this year on the car’s form.

“I wouldn’t say it’s just that,” he noted. “Of course, when it was announced, that’s where it started to go a little bit wrong for us. But I think it already started to go wrong for us a long time before, but we didn’t really see that at the time.

“So I personally don’t think it’s related. That is not to be of course negative towards Adrian or whatever, I definitely don’t see it as something that is related, but it’s something that crept in over time.”

Regarding Christian Horner’s suggestion that the problems began in 2023 he said: “The car last year was quite different to this year. This one was always difficult.

“But of course, there are things that you develop over a period of time that add up to it. To say a specific race, I don’t know, but it’s been a period of time that it’s been going on.”

Verstappen said he had no concerns about McLaren team orders potentially improving Norris’s chances of eating into his championship lead.

“I’m not disappointed,” he said. “At the end of the day of course, they do what they want. That’s not my problem. I have my own problems at the moment.

“So yeah, of course, from Oscar’s side, he’s closer to Lando than Lando is to me in the championship, but it’s something that they have to deal with.”

“They’ve never really been that far apart anyway in the championship as well. And also from Oscar’s side,  you come in as a number one driver, both of them. I don’t think Oscar is the type of driver that needs to be labelled as number two anyway.”

Piastri has said he’ll help Norris if asked to do so

Lando Norris is “thankful” for a call by McLaren on team orders that will see Oscar Piastri support his title campaign if it is necessary to ask the Australian to help.

The decision was made after internal discussions at McLaren since the Italian GP, where Piastri passed Norris on the first lap and put him in a position where he then lost second place to Charles Leclerc.

Team boss Andrea Stella says that the Monza move was detrimental to the overall situation of the team, and he wants to avoid a repeat.

Piastri has also said he’s willing to mover over if he’s asked to do so, although Norris is coy about accepting such help.

“I mean, good, thankful,” said Norris when asked about the call. “How do I say it? I mean, he’s still fighting for his own racing.

“He’s still going out and doing the doing his stuff. And it could be that there’s no time this year that he needs to help me.

“It’s more that I’ve got Oscar’s help when needs be. But he’s still going out with the intent of every session of fighting for himself and going to do his job.”

Norris insisted that he doesn’t want Piastri to have to hand over a race victory: “No. Probably for lower positions. But if he’s fought for a win and he’s deserving of a win, then he deserves to win.”

He said that he doesn’t want a win the championship based on help from Piastri, and that if a decision in his team mate’s favour means he loses at the final round, he will have to deal with it.

“I’m sure it will hurt,” he said. “But I’m also here to race, and if a driver is doing better than me, and outperforming, he’s just doing a better job. So I wouldn’t want to take that away from someone. And I also don’t want to be given a championship.

“Yes, it would be great to have a championship, and short term, you’d feel amazing, but I don’t think you’d be proud of that in the long run. And that’s not something I want.

“That’s not how I want to win a championship. I want to win it by fighting against Max, by beating Max, beating my competitors, and proving that I’m the best on track. And that’s how I want to win.”