F1 | Verstappen: “Good Friday, we can be competitive”

Red Bull showed up in Baku with new solutions in search of answers to the problems that have limited the RB20 in recent months, especially from the point of view of balance. The most important novelty is undoubtedly that of the floor, modified in some of its aspects, especially in the final part, waiting for other solutions to arrive later.

The Azerbaijan track is certainly not one that makes fast corners its strong point, given that, except for the central sector, it is a circuit made up mainly of 90° corners and long straight sections where the Power Unit’s horsepower can be unleashed.

As often happens on Fridays, Red Bull’s times are to be taken with a pinch of salt, given that the Milton Keynes team tends to run with reduced power mappings to protect the engines when there is no need to push. The best demonstration is Max Verstappen’s best time, as the Dutchman is actually the slowest of the leading drivers, even having a gap of about ten km/h. The situation improves with Perez, without a slipstream, although the Mexican also didn’t really shine in terms of top speed on the sprint towards the finish line.

The most interesting aspect, however, is that in these Friday tests a marked difference in terms of DRS effectiveness was seen again: thanks to this element, both Red Bulls got significantly closer to Ferrari and Mercedes, with Perez’s car effectively closing the gap almost completely on the finish line. In fact, therefore, a substantial difference is noted in the first part of the sprint, the one with the DRS closed, while when it is possible to exploit the mobile wing, the Red Bulls returned to align with the values ​​of their opponents.

Overall, Max Verstappen was satisfied with how the day of testing went, perhaps the best in a few weeks in terms of feeling at the wheel: “I think overall it was a good day. We learned a lot. Now it’s just a matter of fine-tuning the things we tried. But I think we’ve been more competitive this weekend so far. So that’s a positive,” said the three-time world champion, underlining how behind the scenes there was a lot of work by the engineers to try to find solutions that would restore driveability to this car.

“Yes, there has been a lot of work in the background, which will never stop. But yes, today was a positive day,” added Verstappen.

During the two sessions, the Dutchman complained on several occasions about the car showing understeer from mid-corner onwards, which is clearly a disadvantage on a circuit where there are many 90° corners where you have to be precise to have the best possible acceleration on exit without ending up against the side walls. Undoubtedly, on a track like this, with so many corners where the traction phase counts, you always look for the best compromise between these two aspects.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“The track was also very slippery, with a lot of 90-degree corners, so if you have a little lock-up, sometimes you stay on the brake to avoid hitting the wall or something, just as a precaution, but for sure FP2 was a bit more difficult for me. So, as I said, we just need to find a bit more balance and then I am confident that we can be competitive,” added Verstappen, who made a couple of mistakes during the day, including a lock-up in Turn 5, fortunately without consequences.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez also said he was generally satisfied with how the first day of testing went, even though there is still a lot of work to do, regardless of what the time in the standings says.

“It was definitely a good, solid day. I think we have a good foundation. We made good progress from FP1 to FP2. We just need to make sure we can progress from here. I think we can definitely be among the frontrunners tomorrow.”

Red Bull brought a revised undercarriage for its RB20 this weekend: it is clearly too early to have a definitive answer on the performance of this new specification but, according to Perez, Red Bull is now starting to go in the right direction in development where it has followed the wrong path in recent months: “I think we are going in the right direction. We are finding that we can put the car in a better condition. There is still a long way to go, I think, but what we have seen so far is promising.”