Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were fifth and sixth in the second free practice before the Italian Grand prix.
Verstappen
“It was alright today, the same conditions for everyone. Luckily we had a dry second practice where we could try a few things. In Qualifying with dry conditions, I think we are too slow, but on the long runs, it looks more positive. If it’s going to be enough to really fight, I don’t think so.”
“From the car perspective the behaviour was good so of course I’m happy with that. But this is definitely the worst track for us, I don’t expect any miracles and we will try to make the best of it. I don’t think it’s necessary to go with a different tyre strategy tomorrow as both compounds behaved really well. I don’t expect any problems there. We will just have to try to have the best Qualifying possible. I don’t know yet whether we will use the C-Spec engine tomorrow, we will decide that overnight when we have looked at the data. We just have to keep pushing and try to improve our car and then we will see where we are.”
A pretty okay Friday afternoon! Happy with the handling of the car. We won’t be fighting for pole tomorrow, but the long runs look positive #KeepPushing #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/ixNVEDUjbi
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) August 31, 2018
Ricciardo
“We looked more competitive on the long runs this afternoon but on the short runs Ferrari were really fast and we also still have a big gap to Mercedes. We definitely closed the gap on the long runs which is promising for the race, but there is still a bit to find.”
“I used the new C-Spec engine for the first time which seemed to run ok. We won’t really know how well it performed until we look at the data but this afternoon we did some decent running with it and hopefully it shows some good numbers. Tomorrow I probably won’t do much running and it’s possible I will skip Qualifying as I’m going to be starting at the back anyway.”
“I think on Sunday we will have a good enough car to come through the field and then work on the best position in the top five. To be honest, it’s just good to see that Marcus [Ericsson] is ok because that was a big one and a worry for us all. He had a far tougher day than me.”
