Red Bull talked about gaining confidence in the first practice sessions of the Spanish GP of Formula 1. Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson commented on their first impressions at the debut Madring and what they took from Friday’s (11) practice sessions.
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The four-time world champion completed almost 50 laps across both sessions and ended the day in sixth position on the timing sheet. In the final assessment, he managed to see positive points and hopes to achieve a positive qualifying. “Both sessions today were not bad at all. We are always trying to find more speed and better understand the tires,” he said.
“The focus is on gaining confidence, especially here on a new track, and I felt we were gaining pace lap after lap. There are always small details to adjust, work on, and improve, and that’s what tonight is for. Tomorrow, we will analyze the single-lap pace and tire performance in long race simulations, but anything can happen; so, we hope to have a smooth session and extract what we need from it,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Lawson, who is racing again for Red Bull for another round, also came close to completing 50 laps at Madring and finished tenth in both practice sessions held in Madrid. “For all of us, Madring is very different and requires more adaptation time compared to tracks we have visited many times over the years. The circuit is very exciting, very fast in several sections, and demands a lot of courage and precision,” he pointed out.
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“The first free practice was focused on gradually gaining pace. The track gets much faster as we accumulate laps since it hadn’t been used much before, as we lay down rubber on the asphalt; but I believe that after the second practice, there is still room to improve the lap time. I think the main goal for the weekend is to complete as many laps as possible in practice and arrive well prepared for qualifying,” he continued.
“We probably left a small safety margin while adapting to the track, but so far, the feelings are good. We will try to make adjustments overnight to have a stronger performance tomorrow before qualifying,” he concluded.
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