Verstappen delivers first Zandvoort verdict after difficult Friday for Red Bull

19:22, 29 Aug

Updated: 20:13, 29 Aug

byTobia Elia

Max Verstappen reflected on Red Bull’s tough Friday at Zandvoort. The home favourite ended the day in fifth place, nearly six tenths behind Lando Norris’s McLaren, which once again looked like the strongest car on track.

He had already warned yesterday that Zandvoort was unlikely to suit the characteristics of the RB21, but Friday proved to be a challenging day for Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

Max Verstappen

Verstappen off the pace in FP1 and FP2 at Zandvoort

Sharing his thoughts at the end of the day, Verstappen said: “Today wasn't great and we were still struggling with the same things that we have had issues with before.''

''We tried a lot of things with the car but it didn’t seem to change anything with the problems that we had. We will look overnight to see if we can find a bit more, but I am not going to expect a massive turnaround.''

The Dutchman finished the first session in sixth place, almost a second behind Lando Norris’s McLaren, and capped it off with an uncharacteristic mistake at Turn 1 towards the end.

Things didn’t go much better in FP2, where Verstappen improved by just one position but still ended up nearly six tenths adrift.

He finally added: ''The layout of the track doesn’t suit the problems that we have with the car and it has been quite tricky today, especially in the middle sector there are a lot of long corners. It will be difficult to be fighting at the top but we will see tomorrow.''

Red Bull’s season has often followed the same pattern: struggling on Fridays before pulling a rabbit out of the hat on Saturday, thanks to overnight work at the track and in the Milton Keynes simulator.

The question is whether the same will happen tomorrow, in a qualifying session that looks set to be heavily threatened by the risk of rain. That risk was also present today but ultimately had no impact on either session.