The highly anticipated Red Bull upgrades bolted on to the RB13 for the Spanish Grand Prix have got a thumbs up from both the team’s drivers after the first day of free practice at Circuit de Catalunya.
Max Verstappen was fastest of the Red Bull duo, ending the session fifth fastest, three tenths down on the quickest Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and six tenths adrift of the benchmark time set by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the day’s track action in Barcelona, Verstappen said, “A bit more positive, I think we made a good step forward. We are a little closer to Ferrari and Mercedes brought a very good update so I think they are still ahead. It was a positive day.”
“I think Mercedes are a bit ahead, they got a good step as well from their package. But we can be happy about today,” said the teenager who won the race in Spain last year.
Daniel Ricciardo, who shaded his teammate in both sessions, ending a tenth of Verstappen’s best lap time, agreed, “There were times when it felt pretty good.”
“But also times when we are still trying to find our way with it. With the medium [Pirelli] tyres at the start of FP2 it was a struggle, but then we found a good chunk with the softs, so we are getting there.”
“For now it is as expected. We made some progress but we knew it still was not going to put us up with Mercedes. I feel we can still perfect what we have and get a few more tenths out of it. We want more but we are in line with what we predicted,” added Ricciardo.
Qualifying report and fastest laps here>>>
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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