The Red Bull world champion, who finished 17th in the second free practice session, admitted: “I struggled to get the tires up to temperature.” The Ferrari driver also made amends: “We are not as strong as we hoped before we took to the track.”
“The track was very slippery, we had difficulty getting the tires up to temperature on the dry lap“. After the poor performance in free practice, Max Verstappen does not hide his concern about Red Bull's lack of performance: “On the race pace, a little better, but – adds the Dutch pilot – we need to understand why we are not succeeding. It's like we're driving on ice here“.
“It wasn’t a memorable day for us, but it seems like it was complicated for the other teams”said Charles Leclerc. “We're not as strong as we hoped before we hit the trail “, added the Monegasque Ferrari driver, “With these very cold weather conditions it is still difficult for us to get the tires to the ideal temperature, which we knew would be the challenge of the weekend, so tonight we will work on this. We let's see what we can bring home tomorrow.”
“Ferrari favorite for the Las Vegas GP? I don't know if we are the favorites, it's definitely a balanced and difficult weekend from the start.” Fred Vasseur to Sky's microphones after the first day of free practice before the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas:“The fight is very tight, we have improved compared to last year. The most important thing is to be ready for the race, that's what we think about and what we focus on.”
