Verstappen delighted with the changes
Max Verstappen conquered the third spot on the grid for the Malaysian GP which was a relief after his disappointing race in Singapore two weeks ago. The Dutchman is looking forward to tomorrow’s race as he builds hopes on his promising long run simulation on Friday.
Max Verstappen had a troublesome race weekend in Singapore a fortnight ago when he dropped back the field due to a slow start. He, then, suffered from high tyre degradation. His problems were highlighted by the fact that he was sensationally overtaken by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel who started the race from the back of the field following engine component changes.
The now 19-year old expected a tough race on the Malaysian soil as the Sepang circuit puts emphasis on engine power due to its long straights. Despite to the lack of power of the Renault engine, Red Bull seems to cope well with the demands of the high-speed track.
“I thought it was going to be a tough race for us before we came here. Now it seems like the balance of the car is there, the long runs seem good and we have improved our short run pace a lot. We were pretty close to the Mercedes on the front row and I’m really enjoying the new surface here, the car is working very well on it. For both of us to be on the second row, in front of Ferrari, means we can be very pleased with today’s work,” Verstappen started his analysis.
The one-time GP winner expects his car to excel in the heat of the Asian country. He is also delighted with the changes which his team made after the unsuccessful Singapore GP.
“Out of the past three or four races this has been my best long run pace on a Friday, we haven’t changed much on the car so it should be similar tomorrow. After Singapore I talked with the team and we changed some things on the car and it seems to have worked, hopefully we can keep improving in this way.”
Red Bull also made changes to the clutch setting in a bid to avoid troublesome start procedures.
“We have made some changes to the clutch so we shall see if it has improved tomorrow, so far everything looks positive. The set up feels really good here and we will no doubt check everything tonight to make sure we are in the best position possible on race day,” concluded Verstappen.
