In their pursuit of success at Imola, Red Bull received assistance from their base.
Red Bull’s troubled start to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend slumped to a new low in FP3 as Sergio Perez crashed out in the closing minutes of the session.
Red Bull had a difficult Friday at Imola, with Max Verstappen unhappy with the balance of his RB20 and running off track on a number of occasions across the opening two practice sessions.
Red Bull’s Imola woes worsen with Sergio Perez FP3 crash
Verstappen finished the day in seventh place, with his team-mate Perez just behind him in eighth. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc from Ferrari dominated both sessions, securing the top position.
Despite the team’s strong track record of recovering from a sub-optimal Friday, Red Bull continued to struggle in Saturday morning’s FP3 session before Perez crashed at the Variante Alta with less than six minutes left on the clock.
After hitting the kerb while entering the right-left chicane, replays revealed that Perez’s car lost stability. Despite his efforts, the Mexican driver was unable to regain control and ended up sliding into the gravel, ultimately colliding with the outer barrier.
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Perez’s front wing was destroyed due to the impact, requiring Red Bull mechanics to undertake a repair job before Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session.
After Fernando Alonso, the Aston Martin driver, lost control and collided with the wall at the second Rivazza corner, it marked the first red flag stoppage of the morning session. Following this incident, Perez’s mishap became the second red flag stoppage.
After Perez’s car was swiftly retrieved, the session recommenced with only two minutes remaining, and Oscar Piastri led the pack with a McLaren one-two, followed by Lando Norris, the victor of the Miami Grand Prix.
Verstappen finished in sixth place, trailing 0.837 seconds behind the leader. Perez found himself in 12th place, sandwiched between Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsuonda, who were driving Red Bull cars.
Verstappen stated on Friday that he believed Saturday’s performance would not be worse than what they experienced in FP1 and FP2. He acknowledged facing difficulties with the car’s balance.
He expressed his struggle with the day, finding it challenging to achieve a proper balance and feeling uneasy while driving the car.
“It is quite effortless to misplace the car and some belongings while constantly on the move. This can make our day quite uncomfortable.”
Furthermore, the long run proved to be highly unfavorable, highlighting the urgent need for improvements if we aspire to remain competitive in the upcoming days.
We will examine a few areas where we can make improvements for tomorrow, but it seems like the others have made some progress ahead of us.
“Just a bad day.”
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