05/09/2025
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "Today has been quite decent. Last year for us this was a very difficult weekend and we've seemed a lot more competitive today which has been good.
"I am happier with the car as well. The sessions have been quite tricky, especially with a few people going off and putting gravel on the track. I think they might move the gravel in Qualifying but it would be tricky in the race as it is not easy as to keep it under control. It's been quite a decent Friday for us: there is work to do but it is better."
Yuki Tsunoda: "Overall I think that today was a bit up and down but it was pretty positive on the whole and the pace was really, really good. We had a bit of flex and if you have that you have to find out why, we also picked up so much gravel and we didn't expect that and weren't sure exactly why. Considering that we were also in and out of traffic we actually ended up with a pretty good lap. Our continuity going into the soft line wasn't there, I thought for the long run we may have had the pace but we were lacking and we have to balance ourselves between the short run and the long run."
Laurent Mekies: "This track is quite specific due to the level of downforce you have to run, last year we had quite high difficulty to set up and stabilise the car. This year we have tried to focus on that aspect in terms of balance, rear wing level and overall tyre management. We have focussed on ourselves and mainly tried to work on set up for the long run and that looks positive, we still have work to do on the Soft, we have struggled during today to extract performance on that compound. The main thing we will be working on overnight is the balance on the Soft and long run optimisation. This track is tricky with the graining, there is a risk here with a smooth track and very high-speed corners. We will try to protect and save the tyre and balance the car well to be successful here."