Red Bull closes in on Barcelona lead
The two Red Bulls maintained their position as the third force on the grid, finishing 5th and 6th. But the gap to the pole position time has narrowed, which is encouraging for the team from Milton Keynes.
The modifications on Red Bull’s cars seem to be working. Indeed, after the 1.5-second gap during qualifying in Russia, the six-tenths conceded by Max Verstappen appear as an encouragement. The young driver, who joined the team exactly a year ago, is therefore satisfied with the progress shown by his car: Being just six-tenths from the pole position is a good performance, and we must be satisfied with this after the second and a half at Sochi. The team has really worked very hard to have the improvements ready on the car. So a big thank you to them.
In general, the Dutchman was delighted with his performance and especially the behavior of his car, much more to his liking than the first version since the start of the season: « It was a very good qualifying. Everything went well, and we had no problems. I think the lap was ideal. The car is clearly the best I’ve had all year, and I’m thrilled with its balance. »
While he started fourth last year, he managed to win thanks to a somewhat unconventional strategy and a top speed that kept him out of Kimi Räikkönen’s reach. He hopes to replicate such a performance tomorrow: « It’s always nice to return to Barcelona. I’ve done many laps here, and it’s always gone well. As we saw last year, anything can happen in a race. Our pace on long stints is good. We’ll see. »
Nevertheless, if driver No. 33 seems to have perfectly adapted to the changes on his car, it does not appear to be quite the same for his teammate. Indeed, Daniel Ricciardo is once again more than a second off the reference time: « Even with the improvements, we did not expect to finish on pole today. I’m still a second behind the leaders in qualifying, but Max is a bit closer, which is good for the team. Personally, I had trouble in the last sector, especially in the last two corners. I wasn’t able to maintain enough speed through the chicane, and that’s where I lost the most time. »
The Australian will be in at least the interesting position of the hunter since he shouldn’t have much to fear from the competition behind him, with Fernando Alonso, 7th on the grid, nearly a second off his time. He will therefore be able to focus on the cars ahead of him and try to climb up the hierarchy.
