Verstappen describes ‘tough’ first day at Imola as he fears Red Bull ‘not fast enough’ to challenge

Max Verstappen doubts Red Bull will be in a position to fight at the sharp end as the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend develops after he and the team experienced a “tough” opening day of practice.

Verstappen finished fifth-fastest in Friday’s second session, almost half a second slower than pace-setting McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, having reported that his upgraded RB21 was “bottoming quite hard” in certain sections of the Imola track.

FP2: Piastri leads another McLaren 1-2 at Imola as Hadjar brings out red flags

Asked to sum up his day, Verstappen said: “We tried a lot of bits, some worked a bit better than others, but overall [we’re] not fast enough at the moment.”

As for his level of confidence about challenging the top positions come Qualifying, the Dutchman commented: “At the moment, not very high.

“We definitely need a bit more work to get a better through-corner balance to go faster. I think it’s the same in the long runs. I got overtaken by the McLaren, so that says enough, right? They pull away.

“But even then, compared to other teams around us, I think at the moment it’s… it was a bit tough today.”

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from second practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Tsunoda wound up eighth, just under a tenth adrift of Verstappen, as he continued to get to grips with his new team and car after moving over from Racing Bulls.

“It was alright,” the Japanese racer said of his day. “It’s not obviously a top five, top three, so still lots of work to do, but I think overall a positive day today.

“I have to nail it down for tomorrow, but we know the limitations. We just had our first long run and it’s good that we saw some limitations there as well, which I think are slightly bigger than probably the short run.

“We will definitely put it all together for tomorrow to combine between the long run and short run.”

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Pressed on whether Red Bull can do anything about McLaren this weekend, he continued: “I think in FP2 it’s kind of the usual story that we’re quite close, and in Qualifying and the race they’re able to make a step.

“We’ll definitely focus on our side on what we have to improve. At least for myself, I just have to focus on myself and to just keep improving.”