In the second free practice session of Formula 1 for the Australian Grand Prix, not everything went according to plan for world championship challenger Max Verstappen. First a defect slowed him down, then he slipped into the gravel. Red Bull has now assessed the damage to the car.
According to Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan, Max Verstappen’s trip into the gravel trap in the second free practice session did not have any major consequences. “It’s fixable. It’s nothing drastic, but it’s a small setback, so we’ll fix it and move on,” Monaghan is quoted as saying by RacingNews365.com.
But the Red Bull man also says: “I would say there is enough to do to keep us on our toes.”
Max Verstappen briefly lost control of his RB22 in turn 10 towards the end of the second session after the front slipped away from him. The Dutchman drove into the gravel trap, but was able to catch the car again and continue driving. In the TV footage you can see how smaller parts of the car fly off as a result of the gravel ride.
Red Bull “still in the learning phase”
Last season’s World Cup runner-up had already had problems with his car. Shortly after the start of FP2 he stopped in the pit lane and only returned to the track around 20 minutes later. In total he only completed 13 laps.
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies was annoyed about the lost time afterwards: “There are so many things that we are still discovering about these cars. Mainly the chassis and the drivetrain. It’s about getting the most out of these sessions. We are still in the learning phase.”
In the end, Max Verstappen finished sixth, 0.637 seconds behind Oscar Piastri in the McLaren. In the first training session, the 28-year-old finished third, 0.522 seconds behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. The third training session continues on Saturday (from 2:30 a.m. CET in the sport.de live ticker) in Melbourne.
