The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend is all about the adapted format. The experiment, in which the free practice sessions on Friday were canceled and the only practice session took place this Saturday morning, resulted in twenty busy Formula 1 bees driving around this morning at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari near Imola.
It was exciting for the drivers to see how their cars behaved at the start of free practice. Not only was there only one free practice, the teams could not rely on data from the previous years. After all, it is the first GP weekend at Imola since 2006.
Verstappen indicated prior to the weekend that the adjusted layout could turn out both well and badly. If the setup with which you start the free practice as a driver is bad, then ninety minutes are far too few in the run-up to qualifying and the race.
If that is not the case and you get off the starting blocks well, the lack of training time does not have to be very bad. This also happened for Max Verstappen, he tells after Saturday RacingNews365.
“Yes, it went very well. We started the free practice smoothly right away. There were no problems with the car, such as balance problems or the like. In that case it is fine that you only have one practice”, said Verstappen. “Sometimes it works out well, sometimes it causes more problems.”
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© Getty Images/Red Bull Contentpool
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Verstappen following Mercedes during practice
And during that training, Verstappen went well. The Dutchman got off the starting blocks and was faster than everyone else in the first part of the training. Then followed a ‘battle’ with Mercedes for the fastest times in the fast runs. Max Verstappen didn’t give much to Mercedes about that.
We also saw a similar situation in the long runs. The Dutchman stayed in the footsteps of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, who was just a little slower than the fastest Mercedes driver in that case. It offered hope for qualifying, in which Verstappen hoped he could make it difficult for Mercedes.
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Engine problems throw a spanner in the works
At the end of qualifying, there was no such thing. Max Verstappen was unable to make a fist against Mercedes during the last and decisive session. In the end, the Red Bull driver had to give in more than half a second to Valtteri Bottas, who took pole position.
Unlike the previous races, the difference seemed bigger because of that, but in practice there were some factors that made the difference between Mercedes and Red Bull seem bigger than it actually is.
In Q2, Verstappen suddenly had to deal with a sputtering engine. It was a relatively minor problem, which was quickly resolved after a heroic performance by the Red Bull mechanics. Verstappen explains what happened when he hit the track in Q2.
“I had power, and then I didn’t. Then I did, and then I didn’t. The team told me to keep going, but I was like ‘hi guys, I’m losing quite a bit of time on the straights like this’. So yes, I broke off my lap because it made no sense that way “, laughs Verstappen at the end of Saturday. “It was not quite lovely, but luckily we made it. “
However, the problem made it impossible for him to get into his rhythm at all. The end of qualifying was therefore messy on his part, according to Verstappen. “You have to go back out on the medium tires to give it your all and we managed to get through to Q3, but I had no reference anymore.”
“Then my tires were too cold in Q3 during the first run, because I was in the middle of a train. So I never got into the kind of rhythm where you know ‘here and there I can win a little and there I can do a little more pushing “It made qualifying messy.”
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© Mercedes
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On Sunday back on the trail of Mercedes
Despite that messy qualifying, Verstappen still ‘just’ came out third. On Sunday, he will be behind the two Mercedes drivers on the grid, with AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly at his side. Verstappen is confident that the race will be more like training than qualifying.
“The longer runs went fine. So yes, hopefully it will be comparable during the race on Sunday”, he expresses his wish out loud after qualifying. The top speed in particular is a thing of the past at Imola. If that is in order at Red Bull, then Mercedes should at least be able to be followed.
“Let’s hope that we are in a good position in terms of our top speed on Sunday,” said Verstappen, who thinks overtaking will be next to impossible at the Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy to overtake, but we’ll see. We’ll see what we can do on Sunday,” he continues to fight.
If Verstappen wants to overtake his Mercedes rivals on the track, it will have to be done at the start. Unfortunately, the Dutchman seems to be at a disadvantage compared to a few drivers around him. The left starting row, on which he and pole sitter Valtteri Bottas will take place, is on the dirty part of the track. Combine that with the medium tires and perhaps Verstappen should watch out for Gasly on the soft tire.
There may be some strategic options, but looking at the tires on which the top three will start – the medium compound – a strategy with a single pit stop seems very obvious. In that case, Verstappen must hope that he can keep up with the Mercedes duo during the race and try an under or overcut.
At the same time, Verstappen has to watch out for Gasly a little bit. The Frenchman thus starts on the paper-faster soft tire and showed a very fast race pace during practice, which was by far the fastest of the teams from the midfield. Should the Frenchman unexpectedly pass his ex-teammate at the start, it will not be easy to overtake Gasly again.
If no crazy things happen, it will in any case be at least third place for Verstappen.
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