Red Bull had an encouraging day of practice in Baku as both drivers declared themselves pleased with their car’s handling.
The team scored its first win for four months in the last round at Monza. Max Verstappen indicated the progress they have made with the RB21 has continued this weekend.
“It wasn’t too bad to be honest,” he told the official Formula 1 channel after practice on Friday. “I’m building up to it but I think again what was positive for us was that the car felt quite good. It definitely seems like we found a stable balance and that is what we need.”
Verstappen ended Friday’s running sixth on the times sheet, six tenths of a second off the pace set by Lewis Hamilton. But he indicated he is pleased with how his car is performing over a race simulation run.
“The track is very particular in its layout and everything needs to just come together to try and produce a good lap,” said Verstappen. “I think we’re still finding that a little bit over one lap to try to get more confidence in myself and the car. Just fine-tuning a few little bits and then hopefully tomorrow that will be better.
“The long run felt okay. It’s always going to be slippery around here, tough on the tyres with these softer compounds, but it seemed not too bad.”
Yuki Tsunoda has had a difficult run of races and hasn’t been able to match Verstappen’s pace over a race stint. But he declared himself much happier with his long run on Friday.
“Mainly what we were focused on was the long run and that seems a lot – much better,” he said. “I’ve never seen that kind of thing so far in this year in a long run. So far it’s working, which is good.”
“It makes sense now, so far, with the long run,” he added.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
