Red Bull in trouble? 'Going towards the limit of the engines'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Red Bull had to acknowledge their superiority to Mercedes during the first free practice session. The black car was half a second faster with Lewis Hamilton driving on the medium tyre and Max Verstappen on the soft. Verstappen, and also Sergio Perez, were however driving on a lower engine setting than Mercedes. Christian Horner saw this too but was nonetheless not satisfied.
Speaking to SkySports after free practice, Horner said that, despite Red Bull's engine position, it is clear that Mercedes have an advantage for now.
'Mercedes has the upper hand, that was confirmed in the first practice. I still hope we perform better in qualifying.' So Hamilton drove a faster time than Verstappen on a harder tyre during the first free practice and did so by half a second.
Engine situation Red Bull tricky
Because, just as Hamilton has now, Verstappen's next engine change is a grid penalty. And so it's tricky to plan when Red Bull want to take this penalty.
It's tricky because if we want a new engine, we have to take that grid penalty (ten places, ed.) somewhere. So far we are towards the limit of the engines, but a circuit like Monza is very tough for the life of a power source. In any case, we are trying to be careful with the engine in sessions that produce less results.'
Verstappen has two engines left, but as mentioned, both have already been used. The same goes for rival Hamilton, who has also lost an engine from this weekend.