Max Verstappen was quickest on the Friday of the German Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing driver was fastest (1:13.085) in the second free practice session, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and his team mate Valtteri Bottas. The other RB14, of Daniel Ricciardo, clocked the 13th quickest time.
“It’s looking good, said Max. We were quick on every tyre compound. And on my fastest lap I had some traffic. After that, we had a small oil leak, but luckily we could do some laps at the end to check everything was fine.” Looking forward to qualifying in Saturday, Max added: “We’ll have to wait and see what the weather does, but hopefully we’re close.”
Ricciardo says he mentally prepared himself for taking a Formula 1 engine penalty at this weekend’s German Grand Prix. And he is looking forward to “having fun” in the race.
He set the pace in opening practice at the Hockenheimring. But he is due to start Sunday’s grand prix from the very back of the grid with power unit changes resulting in a spate of penalties.
“The priority today was to try and get a good race set up because we are going to be coming through a few guys on Sunday. So we prioritised that, Ricciardo explained:
It’s more frustrating when [a grid penalty] happens a day before or something, so I could prepare myself and I’m actually pretty excited to come through the back and have a bit of fun.
I was aware I was probably going to take the penalty here. So now I just look at it as a fun Sunday coming through the field. That is the plan. I’ll try and get as far up as I can. And if I get a podium from the back it’s like a win. So that is my target.”
