‘Lots to look at’ – Red Bull drivers and team principal concerned ahead of French Grand Prix qualifying

Red Bull’s drivers Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, and team principal Christian Horner, appeared concerned about their performance at the French Grand Prix.

Verstappen was second quickest in the first practice session on Friday but was relegated to third behind both Ferraris in the second, with Sainz down in 10th.

“FP2 is a little bit more difficult for us,” he admitted. “Just didn’t really get the balance that we’d hoped for. But also, we were trying a few things with the car. We’ll have a look at it all for tomorrow and try to get closer than what we were today.

“In the long run, it was a bit better but again the tyres are running really hot and very difficult to judge really where you are. We know, of course, that we still have a little bit of work to do.

“Overall this track is very hard on the tyres, you cannot compare it to Austria. In general, we all needed a few more laps to have a good look at the long run.”

Perez struggled to get out on the track in the second session due to technical problems and explained: “We were basically having some delays but nothing major.”

“I’m not very comfortable at the moment in the car, we have some good work and understanding to be done tonight and must try to pick up the best pieces for tomorrow’s qualy.”

Team principal Horner praised rivals Ferrari for their pace.

“They have had a quick car all year and we can see they’re competitive again this weekend,” he began.

“We look competitive on the medium, soft and on the long run looked reasonably okay as well – it was only a five-lap long run – but on the whole there’s a lot of information to take away from that session.

“We’re competitive in sector one, very competitive in sector two and sector three is a the bit that we need to tidy up a bit overnight. Lots to look at.”