Max Verstappen admits his team cannot afford “complicated” weekends to continue winning in Formula 1, such are the tight margins between Red Bull and McLaren ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen and Lando Norris have battled for victory in four of the last five events as the field has tightened since the latter won the Miami Grand Prix in early May.
Ferrari and Mercedes were slightly behind last time out in Barcelona, but the short lap time at the Red Bull Ring, which is the shortest of the year, should make things extremely competitive.
McLaren are the team with momentum though and it was 12 months ago that they made their first major upgrade to the car, which marked the start of their progression towards the front of the pecking order.
“I think McLaren at the moment are just very strong. They are good everywhere, on every track,” said Verstappen, who leads the championship by 69 points over Norris.
“You could see it in Barcelona, they were very good with their tires. They could just attack more compared to, I think, everyone else on the grid without really degrading as much at the end of the stints.
“Even the last stint, my last few laps were quite difficult, where Lando clearly made up a lot of ground, so those are things we need to improve on. Not counting, of course, our known issues with vibrators and bumps, low speed, basically. »
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Max Verstappen has dismissed rumors he will leave Red Bull anytime soon, saying his focus is on next year.
It is important to quickly get out of blockages
Austria is a sprint weekend, so there is just one practice session at 11:30am on Friday before moving straight into sprint qualifying at 3:30pm – live on Sky Sports F1.
At Imola and Canada, Red Bull found themselves behind but spent hours in the simulator overnight to find an ideal spot and Verstappen was able to advance to the front row.
“I would say Barcelona, we had a normal weekend, we were just too slow,” Verstappen recently said of Red Bull’s inconsistent Fridays.
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the Austrian Grand Prix over the years.
“Then you try to keep making adjustments and luckily I think in qualifying everything felt a little bit better. But it was probably just a normal progression that you have throughout the weekend.
“Before that, of course, we had some messy weekends. So we can’t afford that kind of thing anymore. So of course, I just hope for a clean weekend, basically like we did at Barcelona, but I hope for a little more pace too.
As for McLaren, they seem to have a more complete car that is easier to fit into the optimal working window.
Oscar Piastri has struggled at the last two events, but he believes McLaren’s car is capable of being fast straight away on a race weekend.
“Barcelona aside, I was comfortable with the car from the first lap of free practice,” he said.
“I think we should be pretty confident in our ability to hit the ground running. Last weekend reminded us that it’s not always easy to get there, but we need to be confident in our ability to be strong from the start. departure.”
Traffic will be a problem
The short lap time means traffic will be a major problem during sprint qualifying and qualifying, particularly in the first segment of each session.
Ideally, drivers will want to be three seconds behind another car that is also on a flying lap to gain a small slipstream advantage without being hampered by dirty air in the corners.
However, the drivers will also move backwards before starting their turn in the last two corners, now on dirt near the edges of the circuit.
This is an area that Norris is very aware of and he believes that some drivers tend to block more than others.
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George Russell says it’s good to see Lando Norris at the top fighting for wins, but joked he hopes it “won’t last long”.
“It’s always crazy, especially on short circuits. There are common denominators between people getting in the way and that sort of thing. It’s normally pretty clear who’s doing it,” Norris said.
“For us, staying away from people is the top priority of our communication and it doesn’t seem like that’s the case for other people. There’s nothing we can do about it.
“It’s always chaotic because sometimes you use it to try to get slipstreams, but with the last two blind corners it’s sometimes hard to know because the difference in speed between a slow lap and a fast lap is big enough. That’s the challenge of the circuit.”
“It’s up to the pilots to decide, if they don’t want to be penalized, to ask their engineer to provide them with more information about where people are. »
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Take a look at Lando Norris’ roller coaster ride in Spain as the McLaren driver came so close to his second Formula 1 victory.
Close fight expected for the rest of the season
Red Bull is 60 points ahead of Ferrari and 93 points ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ championship.
Sergio Perez has scored just four points in the last three races, and Christian Horner admits the Mexican must improve to help the team in the title race.
Perez’s ability to compete regularly with Verstappen will determine McLaren and Ferrari’s chances of catching Red Bull.
“We work hard as a team to make every weekend better and easier. I know there will be good weekends and bad weekends,” Perez said.
“Last weekend the margins were extremely tight and if you find a few tenths it will make a huge difference. It’s important to be calm about that.”
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Sergio Perez says he is aiming for a positive weekend in Austria after experiencing several “nightmare” races this season.
Perez hasn’t beaten Verstappen despite both drivers having seen the checkered flag for over a year and the close fight at the front saw other teams come between the two Red Bulls.
The 34-year-old says “it’s important to maximize your form” and expects the close competition to continue until the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
“I think it will be like this for the rest of the year, unless someone finds a magic solution. But I don’t expect it.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult for people to find performance. There will be tracks where a team is very good and vice versa.
“It’s going to come down to the level of detail, the level of precision and maximizing the weekends when you have the opportunity to win.”
Austrian GP schedule live from Sky Sports F1
Thursday June 27
12:30 p.m.: Drivers’ Press Conference
Friday June 28
7:50 a.m.: F3 training
9 a.m.: F2 training
11:00 a.m.: Austrian GP Practice One (session starts at 11:30 a.m.)
12:55 p.m.: F3 qualifying
1:50 p.m.: F2 qualifying
3:00 p.m.: Austrian GP sprint qualifying (session starts at 3:30 p.m.)*
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments over the years at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Saturday June 29
8:25 a.m.: F3 Sprint
10 a.m.: Austrian GP Sprint (race start at 11 a.m.)*
12:25 p.m.: F2 Sprint
2:00 p.m.: preparation for qualifying for the Austrian GP
3:00 p.m.: Austrian GP Qualifying
5 p.m.: Ted’s qualification log
Sunday June 30
7:25 a.m.: F3 featured race
8:55 a.m.: F2 featured race
12:30 p.m.: Grand Prix Sunday: preparation for the Austrian GP*
2:00 p.m.: AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX*
4 p.m.: Checkered flag: reaction from the Austrian GP*
5 p.m.: Ted’s notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
F1’s triple bill continues at next week’s Austrian Grand Prix – with the Sprint format returning to the Red Bull Ring. Watch every session live on Sky Sports F1, with the big race on Sunday at 2pm. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month subscription – No contracts, cancel anytime
