Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda went under the radar in Friday Practice at Monaco, finishing 10th and 11th respectively in FP2.
The RB21 was finally capable of outperforming McLaren’s MCL39 in Imola on race day, with McLaren’s tyre degradation finally meeting its match.
Of course, one race weekend is not a big enough sample size to validate Red Bull’s progress relative to McLaren.
Their performance at this highly demanding Monaco circuit, alongside the impact of Spain’s technical directive, will provide more concrete indications about the RB21.
Looking ahead to qualifying, Verstappen has warned that other teams look very strong.
Red Bull a few steps behind Ferrari on Friday
For many reasons, lap times in Friday Practice can be misleading.
Differences in fuel loads and engine modes, for example, can skew a team’s true performance.
Red Bull, for example, are known for being more competitive in qualifying than in Free Practice – whilst other teams opt to run less fuel on Fridays.
Aside from this, set-up changes are also influential in a team’s performance.
Christian Horner’s team often unlock more pace after analysing the FP1 and FP2 data, which is why yesterday’s lap times will not concern the Austrian squad.
At the same time, Red Bull will face more threats than usual in what remains of this weekend.
Ferrari were very competitive in practice, with Charles Leclerc in particular producing some of the magic that we’ve come to expect from him on home soil.
Assuming the SF-25 is well suited to the Monte Carlo circuit, it won’t just be McLaren that Verstappen and Tsunoda will have to worry about.
Midfield teams like Aston Martin and Williams are also capable of delivering strong laps, which could make Q1 and Q2 less comfortable than Red Bull would like.
Fine margins in Monaco
Still, Red Bull managed to complete two clean sessions in preparation for today’s qualifying.
Max Verstappen, who was impeded on several occasions, outlined the team’s progress so far at the Principality:
“Monaco is always quite tricky with traffic. I think there were moments where it was quite dangerous, which isn’t ideal.
“I know it is practice. but it could have been worse if you don’t back out of it quickly and don’t read the situation.
“In terms of how we are looking for the weekend, I think FP1 was quite positive but then we made some changes for FP2.
“We looked at how far we could push the balance and I think we just overdid it a little bit and I couldn’t attack the corners as much as I would have liked to.
“We were shedding a lot of pace and lap time.”
Not for the first time this weekend, the Dutchman does not see Red Bull as favourites.
Crucially, though, he believes there is more lap-time on the table if the RB21’s set-up can be adjusted.
This should give the Red Bull engineers some encouragement that more performance can be found to fight at the front.
Verstappen believes Ferrari could be a threat this weekend – which should throw a spanner in the works:
“I don’t expect us to be the quickest, but we of course want to be a lot closer similar to what we were like in FP2.
“We could be a lot closer but the Ferraris again were looking fast and the McLarens were close behind.
“If you see over the whole season the pace, Ferrari has taken a big step forward here.”
Main photo: Ferrari media gallery
