F1 News
Verstappen optimistic: 'Red Bull working hard to improve'
After a podium finish in the opening race of the season, Max Verstappen is looking forward to this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix. The Dutch driver argues that his team has learned a lot from the race weekend in Melbourne and is doing all it can to turn the tide.
Although the Australian Grand Prix was not the easiest race weekend of Verstappen's career, he can look back on it positively. "It was good to kick off the season again and I enjoyed being back racing last week," the World Champion reflected on the past race weekend. "The Team learnt a lot and in the end I was pleased with P2, but there is still a lot we can improve on," he adds critically.
Verstappen explains that Red Bull suffered a lot in Melbourne due to tyre degradation, but has a positive update for his fans. "The tyre degradation particularly impacted us in Melbourne, but we came away with a lot learnings and ways to improve," he stated.
Verstappen on the sprint weekend in Shanghai
"It is the first Sprint weekend of the season so we need to make sure we have the best set up of the car possible and score as many points as we can," he continued. "We don’t have a huge amount of time to turn everything around, especially with just one practice session, but the Team are working hard to improve."
He is hugely looking forward to the race in China. "I have always enjoyed racing in Shanghai; there are lots of opportunities for overtaking here and the circuit has a unique layout so we will see what the weekend brings."
Logistical problems
It currently remains to be seen whether Verstappen and Red Bull Racing's Friday sessions can go ahead without any problems. On Wednesday morning, a number of teams, including Red Bull, appeared to have been hit by logistical problems, causing the cars to arrive very late in Shanghai. The delay has reportedly puts teams one and a half days behind schedule, but it is currently unknown how much of an impact this delay will have on the teams.
This article has been created in collaboration with Kim Hoefnagel.
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