Red Bull in search of the right sensations
In contrast to last weekend, the Red Bulls seemed to be in less good shape, finding it more difficult to find the optimum set-up on the high altitude Hermanos Rodriguez circuit. Plagued by oversteer, understeer and brake problems, the Austrian drivers got off to a timid start.
Daniel Ricciardo – 8th and 5th fastest – won’t say otherwise, even if his legendary optimism will carry him through to the next day in hopes of having a better day. He has fallen victim to grip issues like everyone else on this track and hasn’t managed to find the right settings to counter the effects of oversteer and understeer.
« It was really difficult to find the right settings in these conditions. When there’s little grip, you have a bit of understeer and also a bit of oversteer, so it was tricky to find the right balance. »
Nevertheless, he hopes that the track will improve the next day and that they will be able to make progress on this issue: « I think we were able to improve compared to the morning session, but there is still progress to be made. We are preparing for little grip again tomorrow, but we will try to improve the car’s balance. »
The Australian expects a better end to the race with the deposit of rubber and therefore a faster track with more grip: « For Sunday, the last part of the race will be better but I think we will struggle with the balance of the cars until the end. »
He also anticipates an interesting qualifying session, given the poor long-run performance of the red-banded tires: « The super softs were not good on long runs. I don’t know how it was for the others but I think everyone had issues with this specification. So it will be interesting tomorrow in qualifying. We might see different strategies. »
On the side of the Dutchman – 14th and 7th fastest – it wasn’t ideal either, as he lost track time due to his brakes overheating.
He relates: « It wasn’t ideal to miss part of the first session due to brake overheating. But we did a good job on the car during the afternoon tests. (…) Because of the lost time in the morning, I wasn’t completely happy with the car’s setup, but I think we found a good rhythm on the long runs. »
Just like his teammate, Max Verstappen struggled with the fastest tires: « It was tricky with the super softs, but the car handled quite well with the mediums, which bodes well for the race.
The Red Bull team will need to pull themselves together if they want to challenge Mercedes again for the victory, unless Ferrari takes on that role for this Grand Prix. In any case, even though the Austrian company has taken a lead—with a 53-point advantage—for the second place in the constructors’ championship, they shouldn’t let the Italian team catch up in their wake.
