What a distinction three weeks makes! After dominating free apply all through the season-opener in Bahrain, Max Verstappen had a day he would relatively overlook on Friday at Imola.
The Pink Bull driver performed second fiddle to Mercedes in FP1 and, then, in FP2 a driveshaft downside rendered the RB16B to the storage with solely 5 laps clocked. The group will need to have felt a way of deja vu because the venue in Italy has not been a contented looking floor for them, but.
Final yr a tyre failure scuppered Max’s probabilities and resulted in a DNF on the first Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Identical place, identical story. Girl Luck isn’t on his facet at Imola.
Verstappen stated as a lot within the Pink Bull group report: “I like Italy. The meals is nice and I get pleasure from being right here however we don’t appear to have been that fortunate with the driving right here not too long ago, so hopefully that may change.
“I had a driveshaft situation so we needed to cease the automotive in FP2 and it wasn’t the best to get the automotive again to the pits so I couldn’t get again out on observe.”
The excellent news is that it was nip and tuck on the entrance between Mercedes and Pink Bull, though the Black automobiles have been one-two in FP1, Verstappen was lower than a tenth adrift.
He continued: “The automotive felt alright in FP1 and it’s tough to say how the second session would have been however we are going to nonetheless be capable of take a look at the info and see what we will do higher for tomorrow by way of stability.
“In fact, it could have been higher to have the session however I don’t suppose lacking working in FP2 is the tip of the world as we all know what we have to do tomorrow. We simply must give attention to ourselves and ensure we get one of the best out of our package deal.”
Staff principal Christian Horner confirmed to media that it was the driveshaft that prompted the problem. Report here>>>
? “I like Italy. The meals is nice and I get pleasure from being right here however we don’t appear to have been that fortunate with the driving right here not too long ago, so hopefully that may change.” @Max33Verstappen after #ImolaGP apply ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/YCNeYvq0Vk
— Pink Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) April 16, 2021
Pink Bull’s frustration was compounded on day one by Sergio Perez’s mysterious coming along with Esteban Ocon’s Alpine throughout FP1.
After the repairs, in the course of the afternoon session, issues bought higher for the Mexican who ended the day sixth quickest. A disappointing day throughout for the Blues.
Perez noticed the positives and stated within the report: “It was undoubtedly good to get a good quantity of laps within the second session in the present day and to get a really feel for the automotive on a special observe.
“The observe situations are clearly very totally different right here in comparison with Bahrain so I’m simply studying how the automotive behaves on totally different tracks. We’ve learnt lots in the present day as a Staff and for each lap I do, I study just a few tips right here and there.
“The race tempo appears to be robust and the automotive felt good, hopefully, we will pull all of it collectively in qualifying tomorrow.
“With the incident this morning, we didn’t have radio so I believe there was a miscommunication by means of there and I believe it was simply unhealthy timing,” added Perez of the incident that reduce brief his FP1 session by 20 minutes.
Final yr’s race isn’t a memorable one for the Bulls as, aside from Max’s DNF, Alex Albon was solely good for 15th; his substitute (now at Pink Bull) Perez was sixth on the day for Racing Level.
On the form finish, Mercedes cleaned up with Valtteri Bottas claiming pole by six tenths over subsequent finest non-Merc which occurred to be Verstappen. On race day a tyre failure scuppered the Dutchman’s probabilities when battling the World Champions with Lewis Hamilton taking victory over his teammate.
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