Red Bull Racing Team: Austin opener was “tougher than expected”

Even before the 18th Formula 1 race weekend of the season in Austin, Max Verstappen joked: “I’m probably going to need a new spine.” He was referring to the notorious bumps that make driving on the already demanding Circuit of the Americas even more difficult. The four-time world champion went on to describe the extreme bumps as “unacceptable”.

The bumps also led to some disappointment within the Red Bull Racing team at the start of the World Championship round in Austin, as technical director Pierre Waché confirmed: “Our set-up isn’t quite as stiff as last year, but the car is still struggling on the bumps, and that has made our search for the right car balance significantly more difficult than expected.”

Nevertheless, Verstappen managed to set the second-fastest lap in the first practice session. He finished the day as the third-fastest driver. His team-mate Isack Hadjar struggled considerably more, finishing 14th in the first practice session and, at the end of the day, still managing to be among the top ten as the ninth-fastest driver.

Worries for Waché and his team

The bumps weren’t the only problem keeping the engineers from Milton Keynes busy. Waché revealed: “The biggest challenge this weekend is getting tyre wear under control in race trim, whilst ensuring that the compromises we make in favour of race pace don’t cost us too much time in qualifying.”

“We had a steering issue on Max’s car in the first free practice session, but we managed to sort it out, and in the second free practice session we were able to make some improvements to the set-up. There’s still a lot of work to be done on both cars, particularly on Isack’s, but as far as the set-up is concerned, we’re not far off a good solution,” said the 51-year-old Frenchman, referring to his drivers.

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“Given the high-speed corners in the first sector, putting too much strain on the tyres too early can affect the rest of the lap,” the engineer noted. “We’re focusing on improving our performance in the slow sections, and although the race is our priority, we naturally also want to ensure we secure the best possible starting position in qualifying,” he added with determination.