Verstappen Brings Up Gap To Perez And Asserts He Makes RB20 Look Better Than It Is
F1Saturday, 22 June 2024 at 19:31
Max Verstappen, who qualified in P2 for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, pointed out the gap between himself and his teammate during the press conference after qualifying.
Red Bull Racing came to Barcelona as the favorite, as this circuit should have suited their car much better than the three preceding ones.
In 2023, Verstappen dominated every single session from FP1 until the race on Saturday at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. However, it wasn't the case this year.
In fact, the Dutchman didn't stand at the top of the timing sheets in any of the sessions, including qualifying, where he missed out on pole by 0.020 seconds.
Although it is a very tiny margin, it suggests Red Bull is perhaps not as dominant as was thought at the beginning of the year.
While the Red Bull Racing driver wasn't able to repeat the qualifying result from last year, he suggested he felt like his performance was even better than in 2023. As reported by De Telegraaf, he said:
"When I look at myself, I think that the qualifications are actually even better compared to last year. But at the moment we are just falling short. The gap with Checo is pretty large. I think that says a lot, too. Because he hasn't gotten worse..."
Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez, has been struggling much more than the Dutchman himself. Although he finally qualified inside the top ten (after three Grand Prix weekends), he will start the race from P11 due to a 3-place grid penalty (from the Canadian Grand Prix).
If we look at the Mexican's performances compared to those of his rivals, it seems the Austrian team has lost its pace advantage. This brings up a question: Does Verstappen make Red Bull look faster than it is? He said:
"I think I've been doing that constantly the last few weeks. That's fine too, that's what I get paid for. But ultimately, we have to find more speed to become champions."
"If you have to drive at 101 percent every time as a driver, things will, of course, go wrong at some point."
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