Verstappen is sure Red Bull can solve power unit issue
Three-time world champion Max Verstappen sounded a positive note, despite having sat out the majority of the second practice session as he hopes his team will solve the reliability issues that hindered his opening day.
Red Bull arrived in Montreal with low-key expectations with Verstappen claiming that the high kerbs on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve could hinder the team's performance. However, F1's pre-event simulations suggested that the RB20 might have an advantage of two tenths of a second over Ferrari and McLaren.
With hailstorm distracting the opening practice and several brief rainshowers affecting running in the second session, it was difficult to read how Red Bull fared compared to its two closest rivals. However, it was not a smooth day for the Milton Keynes-based squad as an ERS issue curtailed Max Verstappen's running in FP2.
On his fourth lap, the Dutchman was forced to return to the garage with the smell of burning filling his nostrils with the issue costing Verstappen any further involvement in Friday’s running.
“Unfortunately FP1 was very affected by the weather and we also did not get many laps out of FP2. There was a suspected electrical issue so the Team told me to box.
"They are investigating what the issue is in the garage now and I’m sure we will get to the bottom of it. It is not ideal as I would have liked to have driven a few more laps and it is not how I would have liked to have finished the session.
"But now we just need to understand more about what happened and the implications that it will have for this weekend," added Verstappen.
His team-mate Sergio Perez had a low-key opening day in Montreal. The Mexican finished the first session in P9 before taking tenth in the second session.
The six-time F1 race winner stressed that timing will be crucial in qualifying should the changeable weather conditions dictated proceedings on Saturday.
“I think overall it was a very tricky day with the conditions that we had. I think it is going to be very important in qualifying tomorrow to be out there at the right time.
"We could already see in FP2 that the conditions and track were changing quite a bit if you were not pushing on the right lap, it could be quite a big difference. We felt a few things in the car that we want to adjust, we have a good idea where we need to make changes, but I think it is very difficult to draw any conclusions on a track that was dictated by the weather today.
"We made some good progress on the inter tyre and that was quite positive, but on the slick, we were just not out at the right time, so I am not concerned about it and we will get to see the competitiveness tomorrow," said the Mexican.
