F1 News

Horner: "On the long run, it was quite competitive and that was encouraging"

4 December 2020 at 19:40

The first and second free practice sessions of the Sakhir Grand Prix are now over. George Russell was the fastest man in both practices on his first day in the Mercedes, but Max Verstappen was able to keep up with the pace.

Red Bull competitive in long runs

Verstappen put down a 0:54.841 in the second free practice, just over a tenth slower than Russell. Alexander Albon also did well, with a time of 0:55.036. He is only three tenths behind Russell.

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner is therefore satisfied, despite the fact that the session did not go smoothly. “It was okay actually we didn't really have a clean run on the short run particularly with Max. On the long run, it was quite competitive and that was encouraging," Horner told Sky Sports.

“It's very different from last week's challenge. The balance shift is quite big and I don't know if it's the same for other the drivers. The long turns have a different effect on the tyres, so the engineers have a lot of work to do," says Horner.

This article was written and originally published by Nicole on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.