Verstappen Not Worried About 'Quick' Ferrari After Second Practice Session

Friday, 22 March 2024 at 17:00

Max Verstappen wasn't the quickest during any of the two practice sessions so far, but he declared there was "nothing worrying" for him ahead of the qualifying.

The 26-year-old Red Bull Racing F1 driver took P2 during both of the Free Practice sessions so far. In FP1, he was only 0.018 seconds behind Lando Norris; in FP2, he was 0.381 seconds behind Charles Leclerc.

The FP1 was pretty "messy," as the Dutchman described it. His runs were interrupted by Alex Albon's crash, followed by the red flag, and then he damaged the floor on his RB20 on one of the curbs, which cost him about 20 minutes of on-track running. He told the media:

"Unfortunately, it was a little bit messy because of what happened in FP1. I went wide and damaged the floor, and also the chassis, so it took a little bit long to fix that unfortunately, so I lost like 20 minutes."

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"But the turnaround was very quick as a team so I more or less completed the programme still. The long run, I would have liked maybe a few more laps but we were missing 20 minutes, that's how it goes."

Drivers got to practice some more qualifying simulation runs during the FP2 session. As mentioned above, the triple World Champion couldn't match Leclerc's speed. He said about his own qualifying pace:

"It was alright. I think Ferrari is quick, but from our side, there are also a few more things that we can fine-tune. So nothing crazy and nothing worrying."

Verstappen isn't too worried, probably because in Jeddah, he also wasn't the quickest during any of the practice sessions, but when the time came to put in a strong lap during qualifying, no one could match him.

Drivers and their teams now have a bit of a break before the third practice session, when it will be their last chance to fine-tune their setups. After that, they will only have 2.5 hours, and then it's time for qualifying.