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With the challenging street circuit in Jeddah usually featuring low tyre degradation, reigning world champion Max Verstappen hopes that his RB21 will be closer to the field-leading McLarens that it was last time out in Bahrain.
Despite the challenging weekend in Bahrain, Verstappen hopes that the Jeddah track will suit his RB21 better, and he will be able to display a similar performance that helped him win the Japanese Grand Prix.
Reflecting on the Sakhir weekend, Verstappen noted: “Bahrain was quite a difficult weekend for us and didn’t really go our way at all. We had some issues that set us back and we still have a lot of work to do on the car to get us where we need to be.
“However, last year Jeddah was a good track for us and it is a proper high speed semi street circuit which is fun to drive. Typically, there is less tyre degradation at this circuit, so it naturally should be a better race for us.
“We have a final push with this being the third race and final weekend of the triple header so hopefully we can find more pace and bring out a performance similar to Japan,” Verstappen concluded.
Following a tough debut race with Red Bull, his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda endured a more successful weekend last time out in Bahrain. The Japanese driver got himself into the final segment of qualifying.
Although he had several clashes during the race including a heavy contact with the Williams of Carlos Sainz, the Sagamihara-born driver finished in the points.
“I was very pleased to get my first points as an Oracle Red Bull Racing driver in Bahrain. I’m still getting to grips with the car and we managed to overcome some difficult practice sessions to recover well and get some good pace and performance from the car.
Elaborating on how he currently feels himself behind the wheel of his RB21, Tsunoda is eager to discover his new car better and find out to fine-tune its setup.
“Obviously I want to do better and I will be demanding more of myself in the coming weeks, as I settle into the Team. As a Team we want to be better too and be competing a lot higher up the grid, it’s a group effort to do that. I get so much more input and choice when it comes to set-up and I am learning every day with my engineers.
“My aim for Saudi is to secure a good qualifying result, it’s another very different circuit and has its own challenges with tight walls and a tricky surface. We’ll look to get the car in a good window and I’ll do my best to deliver a good result for the Team.”
F1
