Max Verstappen says losing out on any significant running in FP2 at the Miami Grand Prix was “extremely painful” given he needs to learn a new circuit.
Red Bull was delayed in getting Verstappen out on track at the start of the second practice session due to a gearbox change and when he did emerge he soon slowed with a problem that led to his rear brakes catching fire. That was the only lap Verstappen completed in FP2.
“Just not a good day,” Verstappen said. “Of course these days extremely painful, especially on a track like this where you want to be out there and learn the track and get up to speed. I basically did four or five laps today – fast laps – so that’s not what you want.
“ some hydraulic issues, so as soon as I went out of the pits I couldn’t really steer — like I was locked — and yes, also the brakes were on fire, so a lot of problems.
“I mean, of course I’ll try to catch up, but it’s just not ideal. Everyone is a bit more into the running but…we have no information on my car. It’s extremely painful.”
There was a red flag in the first practice session when Valtteri Bottas crashed and FP2 was interrupted twice due to another crash for Carlos Sainz and a stoppage for Nicholas Latifi, but Verstappen says Red Bull can’t blame those incidents for costing him track time.
“That’s not an excuse for what’s happening for us today. We just have to look at ourselves. I don’t care what happens on the track with red flags. We could have done a lot more today.
“I think it’s more procedure things that we have to get on top of for these Friday practice sessions, but we’ll talk about it.”
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