Max Verstappen: The balance of the car is far from ideal

Max Verstappen almost missed the entire first session at Zandvoort due to gearbox problems, and in the second session he set the eighth fastest time. The Red Bull Racing driver said he was unable to find the optimal balance of the car due to the lost time.

His teammate Sergio Perez showed the twelfth result and noted the high speed of the Ferrari.

Max Verstappen (8th): “In the first session I didn’t get a chance to work with Soft and on Hard tires it was difficult to understand the balance of the car as this compound offered very low grip. As a result, I am one session behind the rest.

In the second practice, the balance was far from ideal. During an hour-long session, it is impossible to change the settings significantly, so we had to work with the machine at our disposal. Not the best day – we have to work at night. There is no doubt that the result could be higher today.

I’m not particularly surprised by Ferrari’s speed, but of course there are many areas where we can improve. We have all night and the third training to correct the situation. We will try to be more competitive.”

Sergio Perez (12th): “On a fast lap the traffic hindered me, also someone from Ferrari. Unfortunately, it was not possible to drive well on soft tires. On a long series of laps, the rubber degradation proved to be quite high. We’ll see what we can do with the strategy, but of course we need to improve to perform better in qualifying.

In general we are not as happy with the car as in Belgium. We have to improve on a number of points to fight for the first places on Saturday.

Were we surprised by being behind Ferrari? Yes, they are very fast today. I wonder what we can do with it.”