Max Verstappen is not satisfied with the pace of his Red Bull over one lap. The three-time world champion only had long stints in FP2, finishing a distant 17th, and he says he has no pace on the fast laps.
“It was slippery. We had a lot of trouble getting the tires to work, especially on one lap” Verstappen said. “I think the long runs have started a little more competitively, but even there I think we need to fine-tune some things. The one-lap pace is quite off.”
“Of course the conditions are unique here and it's very cold, but at the end of the day it's the same for everyone, so we have to try to understand what we're doing wrong right now.”
“For me it's very much to do with the tyres. The balance of the car isn't that bad I think, it's just that we don't have any grip – it's like driving on ice cream right now.”
Sergio Pérez shares his teammate’s observation: “I think we have some work to do on a lap. I think the long track was a little more promising, but I think we have some work to do to really try to exploit everything, because we're not where we want it.”
“Especially on a single lap, I think we have work to do. We know that in the race it is the most important, and that you can overtake, etc. It will be very important to be able to 'have a good rhythm.'
Asked about the reasons for these difficulties, the Mexican ventures a hypothesis: “I'm mainly thinking about balance. At low speeds the rear spreads a lot. We lowered the rear wing a lot, which made the situation quite tricky at low speeds.”
Helmut Marko revealed that the problem lies in the configuration choice made by the team before flying to Vegas: “We don't have another rear wing, a smaller rear wing, like we see from our competitors. It would be more useful, that's for sure.”
The Austrian forgets the possibility of seeing Red Bull send a wing to Las Vegas on time: “No. We need more balance. Over one lap we can improve. But in the long term, tire wear is a problem at the moment.”
“Tomorrow is a different day. People will be fastest on Friday or Thursday, but that doesn't mean they will be fast in the race. For sure we will take a reasonable step forward.”
