Verstappen hits the wall twice during his opening laps at the Madring

In the run-up to the very first Grand Prix at the Madring, Red Bull Racing shared a video in which Verstappen gets a virtual first taste of the new circuit. It’s anything but a flawless preview. His first attempt quickly goes off the rails, giving Verstappen a humorous glimpse of what can happen when things go wrong on the new street circuit.

"Well that's going well," laughs Verstappen, who ends up in the wall. "Hopefully the next lap is a bit better. I have no idea where it is going," he says. On a new attempt, things again don’t go smoothly. Once more he parks his virtual RB22 in the wall. "I hope that doesn’t happen in real life! Like a grandad. This is terrible. If I’d done one more lap, it would have been fine. I’ve hit so many barriers, it’s unbelievable!" he laughs again.

Naturally, not many conclusions can be drawn about the actual pace of Verstappen and Red Bull. Things get a lot more serious from Friday, when Verstappen will drive the Madring with the RB22 for the first time during the opening free practice. Still, the unfortunate virtual lap fits well with the warning Verstappen himself issued earlier this week.

The four-time world champion has already completed extensive running around the Madring in the simulator and expects the new circuit to leave drivers with very little room for mistakes. Verstappen sees similarities with Jeddah, particularly because of the combination of high-speed corners and barriers positioned close to the track. That unforgiving layout has left him expecting a particularly demanding first weekend in Madrid, with the possibility of significant accidents if drivers overstep the limit.

On top of that, Verstappen isn’t equally enthusiastic about all aspects of the track. For instance, several braking zones are sloped, according to him, which could make it harder to launch an attack.

He drew a comparison with the former circuit in Sochi, where that was also an issue. How representative all the hours in the simulator will ultimately be remains to be seen on Friday. Verstappen already emphasized that Red Bull first needs to find out how much grip the real asphalt offers.