Breaking news
Formula 1
Red Bull stronger than expected in China, says Leclerc
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says he "definitely didn't expect" rival team Red Bull's performance in practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Edited: Apr 12, 2019, 11:32 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Red Bull's lead driver Max Verstappen had outpaced the struggling Ferraris in Melbourne, but was well off the pace in Bahrain.
But despite the new RB15 chassis' patchy form, as well as the two long straights in Shanghai that could expose its new engine partner Honda's remaining deficit to the benchmark power units, Verstappen ended Friday practice in China a strong third, just 0.221s off the pace.
Leclerc, who was only seventh-fastest after his qualifying simulation was compromised by traffic, said: “I think it will be very close, Mercedes and also Red Bull are actually quite close, so will be an interesting battle.
“Red Bull are definitely closer than we expected, so that's good to see. It will be a good fight between the three teams, I think.”
Verstappen, who attributed Red Bull's disappointing Bahrain pace to a set-up error, said a much stronger showing in China was always on the cards once the issue was identified and addressed.
“We are definitely closer and also today I was quite happy with the car. So not much to complain,” Verstappen said.
“Bit too early to say [whether Red Bull can fight for the top] but it looks better than Bahrain so for sure, we’re happy for that.
“We found a problem over there so naturally expected it to be better here. Today we had a good balance in the car.”
Asked whether the Friday upturn came as a relief, he said: “Of course it's always a question mark, but we were all quite confident that if we solved that [problem] it would look a lot better. I think that showed again today. It's not too bad.”
Teammate Pierre Gasly, who has endured a tough start to his tenure at the main Red Bull team, was consistently off Verstappen's pace throughout the two Friday practice sessions at the Shanghai circuit.
The Frenchman, who ended the day nine tenths behind his squadmate, put the gap down to different programmes for the two cars and “testing a lot of parts in both sessions”.
“Basically testing different things and now we need to analyse clearly,” he explained. “They found some good directions and we’ll put the best parts on the car tomorrow.
“It was quite a lot of testing all day, trying to improve the development as much as we can.”
Additional reporting by Edd Straw
Pierre Gasly, Red Bull Racing RB15
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Haas to strengthen front wings after FP2 failure
Next article Engine installation error to blame for Giovinazzi missing FP1
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valentin Khorounzhiy
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
WTCR
WTCR
Hungaroring
WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Australian GP issues update on nine F1 paddock coronavirus tests
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
General
General
Motorsport Games unveils 15 disciplines for 2020
More from
Pierre Gasly
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
Formula 1
Formula 1
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
‘I’m sideways all the time’ – How Alpine’s feral F1 car plagued Pierre Gasly in Singapore
More from
Red Bull Racing
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
9 h
The figures that show Mercedes has lost its supremacy in F1 2026
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Latest news
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
3 h
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 4 h
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
4 h
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 5 h
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe