Verstappen in difficulty with his car during free practice 1
Despite the good times achieved by the Red Bull drivers this morning during the first free practice session, it seems that Max Verstappen's car is experiencing an issue.
Sergio Perez has set the fastest time in the first practice session, however, not everything went as planned for Red Bull. Max Verstappen encountered an issue with his car. This was revealed by Helmut Marko, advisor and head of the young driver program within the Austrian team.
“There is something wrong with Verstappen’s car. We cannot explain what is happening. We have these issues on both tires. He should actually have the same car as during the winter testing and like Perez’s, but that is not the case,” he said to Motorsport-magazin.com.
A little later, he clarified on Sky’s microphone that the reigning world champion’s RB19 was experiencing unexplained issues.
« The car drives differently and we don’t know why. We need to find out what’s wrong and why the car simply doesn’t respond, as it did during the tests. This is mainly evident in slow turns. »
Nonetheless, Marko remains optimistic that the breakdown can be identified and repaired before the start of the second practice session. “I’m confident that we can solve it by the second free practice session,” he confirms.
