After Friday’s practice in Suzuka, Red Bull Racing head Christian Horner commented on their results and emphasized that the team’s main task this weekend is to help Max Verstappen win the championship.
Q: What can be said about the results of the training?
Christian Horner: I think we showed good speed, although it is difficult to draw firm conclusions. We saw the front tires wear out very quickly on this track and this has yet to be addressed, but overall the day was pretty normal.
Q: In modern Formula 1, the difference between rain and dry weather settings is small, but Suzuka is a specific track where in normal weather you want the car quite hard, but even softer in the rain, giving you better handling of slow speeds. curves. Which approach do you choose?
Christian Horner: Finding the right compromise is not easy as it looks like it will be dry on Saturday and it could rain on Sunday. That’s why I want to make sure that the downforce is at a normal level, which would be appropriate for both cases. The same goes for suspension stiffness, so discussions on this topic continue tonight. We have to choose what we focus on in the first place: qualifying – in the calculation of competing for the highest possible starting position, or for the race anyway.
Q: Do you think Mercedes will be able to seriously compete with you in tomorrow’s qualifying, or will they have more problems at this track?
Christian Horner: I think we are headed for an interesting development. On this track, a fresh set of tires gives a noticeable advantage, especially in the first sector. Today it was not so noticeable, but it is clear that the Mercedes team is quite competitive. At the same time, Ferrari is probably not yet in the positions it should be.
Q: Let’s go back to the topic of financial regulation, which was actively discussed last week: the FIA promises to publish the results of the audit only on Monday, although they would do so on Wednesday, October 5. Not sure what it has to do with?
Christian Horner: We also expected this to happen on Wednesday, but the FIA decided to postpone everything to October 10. We await with interest what exactly will happen on Monday, but I repeat: we believe that our team has fully complied with the requirements of the financial regulation, and we are in order with the reporting that we have provided to the federation. But let’s wait for the conclusions of the FIA.
Question Probably all of these conversations have influenced the atmosphere in the team in one way or another? What can be said about her, because this weekend Max Verstappen’s chances of a second championship title are as good as ever?
Christian Horner: Yes, this is a very important weekend for Max because he really has such an opportunity. This is where all our efforts are now focused, and all this outside noise, frankly, was created only to distract us from the most important thing. But we are very happy with the way things are going, including the reporting provided by the FIA, and are fully focused on carrying out the tasks ahead of us this weekend.
Source: F1 News
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