In the third free practice – in which Max Verstappen lost his fastest time by the way – Red Bull found a tear in the rear wing of the World Cup leader. The formation from Milton Keynes has requested permission from the FIA to remedy the problem and, after the green light from the motorsport federation, actually intervened prior to qualifying. It resulted in an increased heart rate for team boss Christian Horner, but remained without far-reaching consequences.
“Something always happens with us. Not a single session goes by without a healthy dose of stress”, Horner can laugh about it after a good ending. “By the way, we don’t know exactly what the cause was yet. Maybe Max hit something, there was really quite a tear in it and there was nothing to see on the other car.” The bumps seem like a logical explanation, as the F1 material is taking quite a beating at the Circuit of the Americas. “At least we’ve got permission to fix things and will take a closer look tonight.”
Red Bull has made great strides at COTA
Even more important than this rear wing interlude is that Red Bull turned things around tremendously after the first practice. In that session, Verstappen gave in for a second Mercedes, while a day later he was able to pull the longest straw. “The set-up with which we came to this circuit was a bit off,” Horner points out about the simulator work prior to the weekend. “Fortunately, we got the car up and running after that. We have improved the traction quite a bit and also the way the car behaves over the bumps. You can see that the drivers are getting more confidence in the car.”
The latter is especially visible with Perez, who finished a strong Saturday. Furthermore, it is hopeful that Red Bull made a strong impression on mediums, all the more so because it is the tire compound that Verstappen and Perez will start on Sunday. “It looked really good on the mediums. At one point we were even thinking about finishing Q3 on mediums.”
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