No one is faster than Max Verstappen in Formula 1 Friday practice in Saudi Arabia, but the team believes that the second race of the season will not be a sure-fire success for Red Bull. It was “definitely not like in Bahrain,” says Verstappen, and Red Bull sports director Helmut Marko also recognizes that the field in Jeddah is “much closer together”.
So does Red Bull have to worry about its supremacy in Formula 1 2023 this weekend? Marco doesn’t think so. Even if the competition is closer, “I hope it will be enough,” he told Sky.
Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin AMR23 was the closest on Friday. He came within 0.208 seconds of the best time of 1:29.603 minutes achieved by Verstappen in the Red Bull RB19 and thus placed ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, who was 0.299 seconds off the lead.
Red Bull does not reveal any details about technical problems
However, Perez says his vehicle was not working normally on Friday either. He speaks of a “small technical problem”, but does not want to “go into too much detail” about exactly what it was. Only so much: “Hopefully we’ll get it under control by Saturday so that we have more pace then.”
Verstappen, on the other hand, claims to have had an overall “positive day”, but immediately limits this statement: “There are still some things that we can do better.” He won’t be specific either.
When asked about his radio complaint in the second free practice session that it took him “too long to downshift” just before the finish corner, he simply said: “It was just a matter of balance. We do it all the time.”
Verstappen: Couldn’t really push yet
Red Bull sports director Marko also does not want to attach too much importance to the episode about his star driver. “Max is never satisfied,” he says on ‘Sky’. “He always wants to be absolutely up front from the first lap.”
That’s probably why Verstappen is a bit contrite, “because you have to protect the tires [und] you can’t really push here at the moment,” he explains. When asked, however, Marko denied that his team could still have half a second up their sleeve.
Marko emphasized that he was “satisfied” with the result at the start of training in Saudi Arabia. “I think we found the right way in the vote.” The only question now is which tire choice makes more sense for the race.
Different tire strategy at Red Bull
To get an answer to that, “we have [im zweiten Freien Training] give the Max a soft one [Reifen] on it and with Sergio the medium,” says Marko. According to Red Bull’s knowledge, the C4 and C3 mixtures from Pirelli in Jeddah are “pretty much the same, but we still have to analyze that carefully,” said the Red Bull sports director further.
Either way, the significantly lower tire wear compared to Bahrain ensures a narrower picture at the top. Or as Verstappen puts it: “If there is little tire wear on a track, then the lap times are getting closer and closer together.”
Marko still assumes number one status for his team when he goes on to say that he suspects “we have a close fight between Alpine, Alonso [und] the Ferrari”.
And Perez sees Verstappen as his “hopefully” only opponent for victory in Saudi Arabia: “That would mean that we would be in a very good starting position. But I assume that some of our opponents will do more on Saturday.”