Max Verstappen says he was not happy with a single lap of his Japanese Grand Prix practice sessions, due to an oversteering Red Bull.
Verstappen placed fourth during the second practice session at Suzuka, behind both Mercedes drivers and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, but cut a downbeat figure.
“It was just oversteer,” he said. “It was just sliding around a lot.
“No [I’m not happy], not at all, not one lap, so we need to look into it.
“Around here confidence is really important through the first sector but I never really felt like we were on top of the car today. “
Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was keen to play down his position at the foot of the Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull sextuplet.
“I think the long run for sure I seemed more happy than Max,” he said. “On the short run I think he did a pretty good lap. We know where to improve.
“My Sector 1 was slow but we had a bit of traffic. We can be better there for sure.
“But even the straight we lose a bit because we’re running, even if we’re on the same downforce, with them [Mercedes and Ferrari] they have a bit more power.
“So coming up to Turn 1 we probably lose already, we gain a bit back, but tomorrow if it’s dry we’ll see a faster Sector 1 for us.
“But if it’s wet, which it looks like it will be, you never know. Hopefully we have our car a bit more sorted in the wet now and we can challenge for a better position for qualifying.”
