A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner has dismissed the FP1 results as matter of mere circumstances as they could only muster a P7 and P16.
Neither Max Verstappen in P7 or Yuki Tsunoda in P16 were overly happy with their RB21. Whilst the Dutchman was vocal in his negative feedback of his car to the team, Horner was quick to downplay the Austrians' grey outing for the first practice session in Imola.
Sky Sports quoted the British team principal: "The track was evolving pretty quickly. We didn't get clean laps or a proper lap in on those second set of tyres."
Nevertheless, that Verstappen was unhappy was evident from the several moments he had whilst in command of his RB21 as well, not just from his radio exchange with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
Max Verstappen could only finish in a lowly P7 in FP1 at Imola
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Horner provides forecast for Red Bull Racing ahead of remainder of Imola GP
By looking at the standings, it would make sense to say that Verstappen is currently in the championship fight. However, if one looks at the way the races panned out, the outlook is less optimistic than that.
For Imola Red Bull have implemente a series of "solutions" as Horner called them, in a bid to try and close the gap to McLaren, something Dr. Helmut Marko, the team's chief advisori quickly discarded that it would happen this race weekend in Italy.
Horner, shares the sentiment of the Austrian advisor. "To beat the McLarens here would be an incredible result but that will be very hard."
"If we got on the podium here for the 400th [Red Bull] race, we would sign for that. Hopefully we can get close enough to have a go at it tomorrow."
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