F1 | This is why Lambiase did not act as Verstappen’s engineer in FP1 at Imola

Red Bull opened the first free practice at the Imola circuit with Tom Hart as the voice on the radio for Max Verstappen instead of the “usual” Gianpiero Lambiase, who is also the head of Red Bull’s track engineers.

The team explained to Motorsport.com that this one-off situation was put in place to provide Hart with further experience as a race engineer – as he also did during the second session of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – but also to make him better understand Lambiase’s role and improve their working relationship.

Hart’s efforts during FP1 were given greater resonance than they might have been due to a series of errors from Verstappen in the closing stages of the first 60-minute session which took place on the banks of the Santerno.

The Dutchman’s first attempt to displace Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc from the top of the timesheets would have ended positively if it hadn’t been for a slow central sector.

Verstappen then intervened via radio to report that his updated Red Bull was “a disaster – I have no grip there”, referring to the Acque Minerali section, where he then went out into the gravel of the escape route during the final minutes of FP1, while it was his third attempt on the softs.

In his second attempt on the soft tires, Verstappen lost the rear of his RB20 while braking near the Variante Alta and, although he quickly recovered from the mistake, he had to cut on the grass.

“I can’t brake later because the car hits the bottom, and then at the entrance to the corner I no longer have the front,” Verstappen said of his initial difficulties in the Acque Minerali complex.

When Hart told Verstappen that his difficulties in the second sector included being “a bit weak” at Tosa and Piratella, the world champion replied: “Yes, but what does weak mean? What’s going on there ?”.

Despite these difficulties, Verstappen finished the first session in fifth place, behind Sergio Perez’s sister RB20, who was also fined 1,000 euros for exceeding the speed limit in the pitlane in the early stages of the session.