General
Verstappen: "It's important to drive many laps after such a long break."
After the first day of practice it was mainly Mercedes who was in charge of the Red Bull Ring. In the first free practice session it was also Red Bull Racing that joined in, but in the second free practice session Red Bull fell back towards the midfield. Max Verstappen finally drove the fifth fastest time, only two tenths faster than his fastest time in the first practice session. However, a broken front wing prevented the Dutchman from pushing.
"It felt good to be back in the car and after a few laps you are quite easily back into the rhythm. Overall it was a positive day, the car was handling well and I'm pleased with the number of laps we did which is really important after such a long break", the Dutchman says in a press release from Red Bull.
Aggressive driving from Max
"The lap times don't really say anything because I broke my front wing on the push lap, so we had to fit a different wing." It wasn't just the broken front wing that caught the eye at Verstappen, but also the spin in the first corner and the trip to the gravel pit in the sixth corner. "I think we were a little too aggressive for that and I had a spin and a little off, but nothing major."
The broken front wing was caused by the yellow kerbs on the circuit, which have caused more damage in recent years. " The kerbs are what they are here and it's the same for everyone, the front wing doesn't really like the yellow kerbs so we do have to be careful. We are I think confident and there are always things we can do better but overall it was a good day and I'm looking forward to tomorrow," Verstappen concludes.