Max Verstappen says Red Bull best hopes of winning this weekend rest on getting good starts after being outpaced by Mercedes and Ferrari on Friday.
Verstappen said the team are “where I expected us to be” after lapping a second off Mercedes and half a second off Ferrari in the first two practice sessions.
“We’re trying to find a better balance,” he said. “At the moment I think we are a bit too slow so we’ll try to improve.”
He said he is “hoping for a good start on Sunday – ten we are in front and you can’t overtake”.
But team mate Daniel Ricciardo believes they may be able to compete with Ferrari and even the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas for pole position.
“I think we can still get more out of it,” he said. “I think this morning was promising, and we tried a few things this afternoon, it’s fair to say they didn’t work as much as we’d like so we’ll probably go back a bit and then understand what we can do better for tomorrow.”
“Mercedes sure is quick but it’s more Lewis at the moment than Valtteri. Valtteri at the moment looks like he’s in our group, or in a group with Ferrari. I think we can be there.
“Pole would be a stretch, but I think we could be in that next little group.”
2017 F1 season
- Sepang pays Haas compensation for Grosjean’s 2017 crash
- Williams revenues rose in 2017 after Bottas deal with Mercedes
- Australian Grand Prix cost government £56 million last year
- “Grand Prix Driver” takes you inside McLaren’s nightmare final year with Honda
- Undisputed champion: 10 titles name Hamilton top driver of 2017
evered7 (@evered7)
24th March 2017, 8:34
Ricciardo seems to be drunk on the patriotic spirit. There is a .5s gap to Bottas and Vettel without even considering the Q3 mode of Mercedes.
How on earth is he going to overcome that without any ace up his sleeve? Bottas will still get pole comfortably even if Hamilton runs into any reliability issues during the qualifying runs. Even if it is difficult to overtake, I am sure the strat setting changes will give them Mercs increased power to overhaul the RBs. This is blind optimism from the RB fellas IMHO.
Their only hope is that Australia is an anomaly and Mercedes’ advantage isn’t as high as it is now, in other tracks.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
24th March 2017, 8:48
Here’s the one reason I am still sort of optimistic about Red Bull (apart from it being Friday on the first day of the season). The explanation on the BBC of the concept of the car. Apparently, the car is designed in such a way that they don’t want or need the tuning vanes and winglets, but rather use their front wing to guide air over, not under the car. They want a car that is as aerodynamically stable as can be. Which is different to the Mercedes or the Ferrari, which perhaps have a better ‘sweet spot’ of aerodynamic ability, but also are easier to flummux with winds or dirty air. IF this is true, and if this is implemented correctly, then that means that the Red Bull should be far better at driving in dirty air, driving behind cars, driving in ‘race mode’, IE, in a full field. Which would also explain why, say, Hamilton says driving behind other cars is difficult right now, and Verstappen says it’s not any different. Their car should *theoretically* be able to deal with it better. If that’s the case, then I think race day may be interesting, as the distance to first isn’t so big that first can just romp away, and it might mean Ricciardo and Verstappen can use their car to good effect.
Here’s hoping.
San
24th March 2017, 9:06
If it’s true it would lead to better racing, so I would love this.
bosyber (@bosyber)
24th March 2017, 9:27
Unfortunately, I think that is too optimistic about Red Bull @hahostolze, and in this article Verstappen himself says overtaking is impossible. The thing is, most topteams have been moving to have a more stable aerodynamics of late, in fact, it is one of the things McLaren were said to be changing to ‘like Red Bull’ after 2013 proved pretty bad, so it isn’t really something new.
I’d say the difference between Mercedes and Red Bull (w. Ferrari in the middle) is more in using either very detailed work to guide air, versus a very clean flow around the car – with the possible advantage that the clean flow is less draggy too. But so far, Mercedes is simply faster, even if the engine is half a second, it isn’t the full second difference HAM has in hand.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
24th March 2017, 9:31
For one, I agree the Mercedes is simply faster. But I don’t think I agree on your point on all cars going to more stable aero. The Mercedes is a stable car, but it’s aero os so finely tuned that in the past it has shown it can suffer from that. If that’s still the case the Red Bull will have some form of advantage if that ever comes into play.
MacLeod (@macleod)
24th March 2017, 11:32
Max says it impossible to overtake on this circuit not that it is impossible to overtake at all on other circuits.
MattDS (@mattds)
24th March 2017, 11:52
@hahostolze I think that’s overly optimistic. The effect you describe is interesting, but really it only helps you against cars that are not faster than you. Because to make use of a philosophy that better enables you to overtake, you should first be able to close up to the car in front.
If the difference is half a second or more, then nothing is going to happen.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
24th March 2017, 12:32
@mattds That’s not entirely true though. Drivers have described an effect on their cars anywhere up to two seconds ahead. That can basically be the difference between a Bottas and a Verstappen. Which means it can be very beneficial.
MattDS (@mattds)
24th March 2017, 12:50
@hahostolze you’re mixing up defense and offense. It’s not because a Merc can’t overtake a Ferrari that is one second slower due to dirty air, that an RBR less susceptible to dirty car can be one second slower and still overtake a Merc.
To be able to overtake, in the first place you must get close, and if you’re slower you won’t.
grat
24th March 2017, 18:55
The Red Bull is low drag because they know they don’t have the HP to muscle through the drag the way the Mercedes can.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
24th March 2017, 10:02
But team that starts from pole will still win ..
Tango (@tango)
24th March 2017, 17:20
Wait is verstappen now saying overtaking is impossible ?