Purple Bull adviser Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen’s points at Interlagos stem from a scarcity of downforce and grip within the second sector. This, compounded by a delicate smooth tyre, has resulted in a disappointing sixth-place begin for the reigning champion in tomorrow’s dash race.
Chatting with ORF after the Brazilian GP dash qualifying, Marko gave a blunt response when requested in regards to the deficit seen by the Purple Bull drivers.
“We’re inside hundredths of a second in sectors one and three. In sector two, the place a lot of the corners are, we merely lack the required downforce and grip. So I don’t see any potentialities for the dash race, until it rains, maybe.”
The Milton Keynes outfit will have the ability to make changes following Saturday’s dash race, that means the information collected over the 24 laps of race distance is extremely vital.
“However the important thing factor is that we consider the information from the dash accordingly. Yuki Tsunoda is on the identical set-up, which suggests we get twice the information so we will discover out why we’re dropping a lot in sector two.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris took dash pole forward of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, with Oscar Piastri rounding out the highest three. Verstappen completed 0.337 seconds behind the chief.
“We’re dropping 4 tenths over a comparatively brief time frame and we’re simply not getting any grip. It went higher with the medium tyres, however in the end it is a query of downforce and one thing would not appear to be working correctly.”
As for team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, he completed a bruising 18th, 1.449s behind Norris. After clipping the wall in apply, he was eradicated in Q1 of dash qualifying, leaving him to combat from the again.
Max Verstappen, Purple Bull Racing
Picture by: Mark Thompson – Getty Photos
“It’s kind of disappointing,” Marko mentioned. “We anticipated extra, however as I mentioned, when the automobile is tougher to drive, we have all the time seen that the hole to Max will increase accordingly.”
Responding to his poor qualifying, the Japanese driver was clearly disillusioned.
“Lap was fairly okay within the qualifying, simply what I’ve executed. It is mysterious. Simply lack of grip, to be sincere, total. Lap itself, I am probably not… I am unable to actually discover now what I am kind of [missing],” he mentioned.
“I do not wish to actually pray for rain or dry, however to date I’ve to seek out one thing within the automobile as a result of I simply do not perceive why.”
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