19/03/2025
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: It was good to kick off the season again and I enjoyed being back racing last week.
The Team learnt a lot and in the end I was pleased with P2, but there is still a lot we can improve on. The tyre degradation particularly impacted us in Melbourne, but we came away with a lot learnings and ways to improve. 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. 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. 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.
Liam Lawson: I am excited to be racing again this weekend, it was a very tough first weekend in the car for me and I am not sure I have been looking forward to getting into a car so much for a very long time. I just want to totally reset coming into this weekend and show what we are capable of. It is a new track for me but at the same time we have been doing a lot of sim work and focussed on the preparation extensively for China. It's a track that looks quite cool to drive, I have watched it growing up and I think it's an exciting it is back on the calendar, and I am looking forward to getting out there. The Sprint format makes things tricky as we get so little practice, but we will work to ensure we are up to speed and make the most of the time we have in FP1 to get dialled in. I know the Team has been working extremely hard and we all want to go into China ready to compete. The pace felt like it was there last weekend, and Max showed we are heading in the right direction with the set-up of the car. Last weekend has only made me hungrier to go out there in Shanghai and give it my all.