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Following the Zandvoort sprint race, Max Verstappen announced that Red Bull Racing would be making changes to their RB22 car. The Dutchman crossed the finish line in sixth place, once again noting that something was still missing. However, Verstappen also saw a glimmer of hope during the sprint, leaving him with mixed feelings heading into the rest of the weekend.
Verstappen had already indicated yesterday that the team couldn't change much for the sprint itself, so they would use the data from it to attempt better car settings for today's main race qualifying. Verstappen neither gained nor lost positions during Saturday's race, but he still seemed uncertain if Red Bull could improve the situation.
"We wanted to make some changes anyway, and after that race, the plan remains the same. So we'll see if we can improve it a bit," he stated after the finish.
On Friday afternoon, he primarily focused on grip and balance. Some of those issues persist: "We're definitely lacking a bit of pure speed, but at least tire wear wasn't too bad in the race."
Before the sprint, the long runs also didn't offer encouraging signs, but the race turned out to be less disastrous than some might have expected: "I was just a bit stuck behind Oscar Piastri. As soon as you get close, your tires overheat, and you can't overtake, so you're just trapped. But I think in the race, we looked perhaps a bit more competitive, which is good, but we need to find more overall better performance."
During the sprint, it was evident that Verstappen managed to stay ahead of one of the Ferrari cars and had the pace to remain close to Piastri in the McLaren. The Australian, in turn, noted that the speed of both McLaren cars wasn't particularly good. The variable conditions seemed to hinder the performance of several cars, although Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc managed to make overtakes and move up one place each.
While Verstappen may have struggled with outright speed in the Zandvoort sprint, his race pace offered some encouraging signs for Red Bull. After initially falling behind Piastri and being pressured by Lewis Hamilton, the Dutchman became more competitive as the stint progressed and managed to close the gap to the McLaren once again.
Verstappen achieved an average lap time of 1:16.293 over the 24 laps, and his tire wear was about three-tenths better than Piastri's on the medium compounds. Ferrari, however, appeared even stronger, with Charles Leclerc showing the best average pace despite being held up behind Lando Norris for several laps.
Thus, the data suggests that Red Bull's race pace is stronger than their one-lap performance indicated on Friday. With parc fermé regulations lifted before qualifying, Verstappen and his team can now make further changes in an attempt to close the remaining gap.
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