Visa Money App RB F1 Crew noticed their Belgian Grand Prix get off to a “powerful” begin throughout Friday’s two follow periods.
And with rain within the forecast, and Yuki Tsunoda dealing with a large grid penalty within the Grand Prix itself, issues may get even more durable over the weekend.
In Friday’s first follow session, Daniel Ricciardo posted the Thirteenth-fastest session, whereas Tsunoda was a bit additional again within the discipline, with the Sixteenth-fastest time. FP2 introduced much more struggles, as Ricciardo completed in P14, and Tsunoda down in P20.
Whereas Ricciardo famous a few of the positives from the session, he acknowledged the challenges forward of VCARB within the group’s post-practice media report.
“It was good to drive right here at present in dry situations; they resurfaced a part of the monitor, and a whole lot of corners have extra grip which feels good,” mentioned Ricciardo. “As we speak was a correct take a look at day for us, we tried a whole lot of issues, and I used to be happier in FP2 in comparison with this morning. We nonetheless want to search out a number of extra tenths for tomorrow however it could rain, and if quali is the one moist session, we received’t have a lot time to determine it out and discover the grip. This will likely be a problem for all of us. Sunday appears dry although, so at the very least we’re comfy, given what we discovered at present.”
With Tsunoda dealing with a begin in the back of the grid, Friday was all about studying.
“We tried a number of issues at present and know some areas we need to take a look at and enhance tomorrow. I’ve a grid penalty on Sunday for taking new energy unit components, so it’ll be about maximising as a lot as potential this weekend,” mentioned Tsunoda. “The monitor has a brand new floor in locations which is good and clean, and I used to be capable of finding extra grip. It’s a pleasant modification and we’ve got a very good alternative to study extra tomorrow and discover essentially the most optimum arrange. Often, we carry out fairly properly within the rain, and with the situations trying combined this weekend it throws one other aspect into the combination.”
With VCARB putting in a completely new energy unit on Tsunoda’s RB01 — and all six parts exceeding the allotment underneath the principles for a single season, carrying a ten-place grid drop because of this — Tsunoda is dealing with a technical 60-place grid penalty. Which means regardless of how his qualifying session goes on Saturday, he will likely be in the back of the grid on Sunday.
VCARB Racing Director Alan Permane summed up the day this manner:
A tricky day on our aspect, we’ve got Yuki ranging from the again of the grid on Sunday resulting from his PU penalty, so he’s been focusing just a little bit extra on race preparation,” mentioned Permane. “We’ve bought some work to do to search out some extra rear grip, so we’ll be working within the simulator in a single day with a number of set-up gadgets to check out, with a view to attempting these on the automobile in FP3. On a constructive observe, Daniel’s long term tempo was not solely fast, however had very low degradation. We have now rather more confidence in our long term tempo than our brief run tempo and we’ll be aiming to enhance that for tomorrow.”
