Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez showed again on Friday in Jeddah that they have a fast car. The Dutchman finished both sessions fastest, while his teammate also did well with a second and third place. Still, the Red Bull Racing drivers expect the competition on Saturday and Sunday to hit back and get closer.
Verstappen was not pleased with the downshift during the second free practice, but when asked about it by Sky Sports, he says that it is not a problem. “It’s just fine-tuning the downshift, we always do that. I think we had a positive day, but there are still things we can do better. The long runs seem to be quite close together, but that’s mainly due to the management of the tyres, because you can’t really push with them here yet. I think with a low relegation circuit like here the lap times are very close, so it’s not like Bahrain.’
His teammate was also pleased with Friday in Jeddah. ‘I think learning the conditions, which still want to change between VT1 and VT2, and being able to read well were essential. We had a mechanical issue with the car, which we should be able to fix for tomorrow and hopefully give us a bit more speed, and hopefully give us a better idea of the car as a whole, because there was some inconsistency today.” said Pérez, who declined to say what the problem was.
Competition will rise
The Mexican sees that Red Bull Racing is fast, but also sees that the competition is better than in Bahrain. “But overall we seem to be fast, but the competition is closer as expected.” Pérez therefore hopes that Verstappen is his only competitor, but expects the competition to be closer on Saturday and Sunday. “Hopefully so, but I expect some of the rival teams to stand up tomorrow.”
