Lambiase flags setup concerns with Verstappen's car in Austria after Friday's outing

The British-Italian, who serves as Head of Racing at Red Bull and race engineer for Verstappen, appeared somewhat cautious in his assessment of the team’s overall Friday running at the Red Bull Ring. Lambiase noted that the upgrade package introduced by the Milton Keynes-based outfit has so far behaved as expected, before highlighting that the team had already mapped out various options to fine-tune the car balance.

“Pretty much the package that we brought here to the Red Bull Ring seems to be behaving on the whole as we’ve expected, which I guess means we did hit the ground running. We were prepared with various options to attack the car and the balance,” Lambiase said during his post-session debrief.

The race engineer continued by flagging that the team appeared to have found a slightly better sweet spot for Isack Hadjar’s car, while noting less progress on Verstappen’s side.

Lambiase concluded by stressing that the team remains relatively satisfied with Friday’s running, while confirming that the factory will continue to analyse the upgrades and ensure they are delivering as expected.

Verstappen was far from satisfied with the updates introduced by Red Bull Racing at the Austrian Grand Prix. Following the second free practice session in Spielberg, the Dutchman reflected on a difficult day at the Red Bull Ring.

Some of Verstappen’s frustrations were also echoed by teammate Isack Hadjar, who spent much of the second session venting his frustrations over team radio.