Formula 1: what is the problem in Max Verstappen’s car that thrills all his pursuers

Thursday, in the middle of the day, at lando norris He was asked if he saw himself with a chance to win the Dutch Grand Prix and replied: “I would love to, but honestly, everything indicates that the race will be won by Max.” The superiority he is marking Verstappen in the league (93 points clear of Sergio Pérez, his main rival) is so great that even his rivals no longer bother to admit the situation in which they are faced with those who have all the tickets to be two-time champion of the championship. Formula 1. However, His departure this weekend was not the most encouraging and gave some hope to his competitors.

And this the Dutchman had a gearbox problem a few minutes before the start of the first free practice session this Friday, a fact that forced him to park the car at the side of the track and tow it to the pits for his mechanics to work on the matter. Although he later managed to test the conditions in the second training session, Verstappen admitted that he is at a disadvantage compared to his teammates.

“When we did free practice 2 we noticed that the balance wasn’t very good, but in an hour session you can’t really change a lot of things about the car. That’s why we tried to deal with what we had, and that ended up being harm us. We will have all night to take care of things and I’m sure we can do better.“said the leader of the tournament with 284 units and nine races won this season. And he closed:”I will try to be more competitive tomorrow“.

Verstappen’s bad times have been taken advantage of by his main competitors, who dream of making a difference this weekend and, therefore, still dream of the title. Indeed, Charles Leclercthird in the drivers’ standings for the continuous reliability problems of his car and the bad strategies of his team, He was the fastest of the day with a time of 1’12.345, just four thousandths behind his teammate, Carlos Sainz.

Lewis Hamiltonin the meantime, it is back competitive and, after dominating the first free practice sessions, it was 72 thousandths of the Monegasque. Later, Norris and Russell managed to get close to the leaders and left a good feeling for Saturday’s qualifying.

Checo Pérez, weak in free practice (7th and 12th) said: “The tire degradation seems to be quite high, so it will be interesting to see what we can do with the strategy, and we certainly need to improve for tomorrow’s qualy”. . And I add: “Ferrari and Mercedes looked strongso it will be interesting to see what we can do. “

How is the Dutch Grand Prix going?

This Saturday there will be a third and final practice test to finish the adaptation to the track, which will take place from 7 am. Then, at 10 am, the ranking will be held to determine the starting grid for the final on Sunday scheduled for 10 and will be 72 laps. Everything can be followed by Fox Sports and Star +.