Nyck de Vries from Uitwellingerga had a good time on Friday at the Monaco street circuit. The AlphaTauri driver, who has not yet made an indelible impression this season, recorded the sixteenth and seventeenth time in the two training sessions. Max Verstappen, who clocked the best time in the second practice session, was not entirely satisfied, however.
“I enjoy this track. I’ve raced here in Formula 2 and Formula E, but coming here as the premier class is definitely different. I think it was a solid Friday where we made progress through both sessions. We are slowly but surely getting more comfortable with the car on the track, but there is still some work to be done for the balance,” said De Vries (28).
“The Monaco track is not an aerodynamically sensitive circuit, so we will have to take more advantage of the new upgrades elsewhere. We will do our homework on Friday night and have to keep it ‘clean’ on Saturday during Q1 of qualifying when there are a lot of cars on the track. It will be a challenge to get a good lap.”
Verstappen
Verstappen (25) is aiming for his second victory in Monaco in his Red Bull, but he thinks there is still a lot to do before that. “The first training was quite difficult. I wasn’t really happy driving the car over the curbs and the bumps. But I think the second practice was already a lot better, the car was much more competitive,” said Verstappen.
“But especially compared to Ferrari, I think we’re still a little bit lacking in terms of the overall performance of the car, how it handles the curbs, the bumps and the corners. So that’s still something we need to work on for Saturday.”
The race starts at 3 p.m. on Sunday.