Max Verstappen explains “loose” Red Bull radio complaints in Spanish GP practice

Max Verstappen didn’t seem too concerned about his Red Bull F1 car feeling “loose” in Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, explaining that they were simply trying out various car setups.

Verstappen was heard complaining over team radio on at least two occasions about his car being loose.

The first radio message, he said: “The car is loose in the exits in general, still just weird understeer mid corner, this car doesn't bite…”

Soon after, he added: “Car is still loose.. I need the other wing.”

It soon transpired that Red Bull were trialling different rear wing configurations until FP2.

The Dutchman ended up fifth in the order, over 0.2s down on Lewis Hamilton’s top time.

Interestingly, Verstappen was quickest in the first and final sector, but lost out in the middle part of the lap.

Shedding light on his “loose” complaints, Verstappen said: “We just tried a few different setups out there in FP1, FP2. Just trying to fine tune it a little bit. At least I think the day itself was a bit more normal without any issues so that’s what we were hoping for.

“Now it’s about trying to tidy up the car a little bit. That’s quite normal.”

When asked about Red Bull’s upgrades, he added: “They were very tiny. Nothing too big. So far, everything is feeling normal.”

It was a tough day for Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who ended up 13th in the order.

Perez has been on a difficult run of form with back-to-back DNFs and his chances of a good result this weekend have been compounded by a three-place grid penalty from the last race.

Reflecting on his day in Spain, Perez said: “I started the day well but then into FP2 we did quite a bit of changes and we lost track somewhere. Plenty of things to analyse.

“We did a lot of changes, we explored the car quite a bit. Hopefully we are able to pick the right bits going into tomorrow.”