Max Verstappen admitted that Friday’s practice session hadn’t gone as smoothly as he might have hoped, but that he was confident that Red Bull was going in the right direction and could spring a surprise on its rivals when it came to race pace in the US Grand Prix on Sunday.
- AS IT HAPPENED: United States Grand Prix – FP2
“I think we got it in the end, it as just a bit difficult to find a clear lap but in the end I think we got some good data,” he said. “The long run was definitely positive.
“My short run was not fantastic,” he continued. “We made quite a lot of changes on the car which didn’t really seem to work.
“After the short run we changed a lot back on the car to what we were using in FP1 and that was quite a lot of difference.
“That’s why it took me a bit longer to go out again in the long run as we made quite a lot of changes back to what we thought can work and it seemed to work pretty well.
“Once I got out there was a red flag – in the end, it was the same everyone – but in the end we got some good laps in and long run is pretty positive.
“I had a Ferrari in front of me so I was catching him in the long run so I guess that was positive.”
Verstappen felt that the supersoft tyres would not be a major factor in this weekend’s race strategy due to their short life at the Circuit of the Americas.
“You can see the supersoft we were losing a lot of laptime every lap that passed so I think it’s more between the soft and the medium.”
Overall, he felt that he and his team mate Daniel Ricciardo were in good shape to content for podium positions – and possibly victory – when it came to this weekend’s race.
“We always try, and we’ll see where we end up,” he said.
PRACTICE REPORT: Rosberg leads Ricciardo and Hamilton in FP2
Silbermann says … Taylor should take over F1
Romain Grosjean column: 100 races, now for the wins
PREVIEW: 2016 United States Grand Prix
TECHNICAL – Turbulent Jet Ignition: In the antechamber of F1 power
FEATURE: Where and why has Williams been caught out
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey