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Max Verstappen finished second in both Friday’s free practice sessions for the Sakhir Grand Prix. But despite that, the Dutchman said he expected a lot of homework from his Red Bull squad on Friday night to get the RB16 in the right window on the fast and hectic Bahrain International Circuit Outer Track, after what he described as a “difficult”. day.
With Mercedes rookie George Russell – replacing Lewis Hamilton banned from Covid this weekend – leading free practice 1 and 2 on Friday, Verstappen enjoyed what appeared to be a positive day on paper, finishing P2 to Russell on both. occasions, and within two tenths of the British all day.
FP2: Mercedes substitute Russell beats Verstappen to complete a clean sweep on Friday at the Sakhir GP
But with Verstappen complaining of understeer and a weird “jump” feel – as he said – on his car’s suspension, “quite complicated” was how he summed up his Friday, adding, “I think the balance we have not done yet I do not find the optimal set-up, so especially in the short term, it seems that we still lack a little bit. The long term did not seem so bad, but even there I think we can do better .
“Valtteri’s lap has been canceled,” added Verstappen, referring to the canceled lap of 54,506 set by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in FP2, which if he had stayed would have been 0.335s faster than Verstappen’s 54,841. “We are three and a half tenths away [Bottas’ deleted time] so that’s quite a bit. We still have to find more, especially by working for qualifying, and also in the race we need to improve a bit more to be competitive. “
Teammate Alex Albon, meanwhile, scored a P3 in FP1 and a P5 in FP2 – his fastest lap in the second session seeing him meet Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri in the short 3.5km lap, costing him a little. ‘of time. But the Thai driver was more optimistic about his performance than his teammate, although he admitted he was slightly puzzled as to why he felt more competitive in FP1 than FP2.
“It was fine out there,” Albon said. “[The track] has its own uniqueness; it is so short that a perfect set-up is really vital. Actually FP1 was better than FP2 for us, so we’ll think about it, see what we did right and wrong and we’ll be back tomorrow.
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“Honestly, I felt like I had more grip in FP1 than in FP2. A little bit of grip at the rear, a little bit of grip at the front, but above all at the front, which we lack in that FP2 session. We’ll take a look, but the race pace actually looks pretty good so that’s good. “
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Meanwhile, with drivers facing an alternate Bahrain track layout competing last weekend, Albon – who took his second career podium behind Hamilton and Verstappen in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday – tagged the new “fun” setup, saying, “It’s so short, you have to make it perfect. But it’s pretty fun and pretty challenging actually. I like it – I just need to be faster!”
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