The Red Bull Racing team got off to a promising start to the tenth race weekend of the year, with their star driver Max Verstappen finishing the first session as the fastest. His team-mate, Isack Hadjar, was just under two-tenths of a second slower and finished fourth on the timesheet.
The team then had time to fine-tune the car, and they did so successfully. The Dutchman was a second faster in the second practice session, whilst his French team-mate was six-tenths off the pace. However, the competition also improved, meaning that Verstappen was third fastest at the end of the day and Hadjar had to settle for the fifth-fastest lap.
Technical Director Pierre Waché summed it up: “Overall, it was a good start. The Spa circuit is a real challenge in terms of energy management, and we tried out various strategies in both practice sessions to get the best out of the car in that respect. It’s all still very much up in the air at the moment.”
The Frenchman admitted: “The car’s balance isn’t perfect yet, and we also experienced high tyre wear in race set-up. We now need to work on that ahead of the third practice session and qualifying on Saturday.” Nevertheless, he remains confident: “Overall, we’ve put ourselves in a good position to keep improving.”