Spain 2020 - GP preview - Red Bull

Team quotes

By Franck Drui

12 August 2020 - 11:44
Spain 2020 - GP preview - Red Bull

MAX VERSTAPPEN Q&A

Tell us how it feels to get the first win of the season for the Team?

It was a massive Team achievement for us and Honda to win the race last weekend. It was an amazing result and a bit unexpected, but once we got into the race I could quickly see that we had very good pace. It was really rewarding and it just shows that if you keep pushing towards one goal then great results are possible.

How early in the race did you know that you had the pace to keep up with Mercedes?

Well, the first stint was going really well, even when we weren’t on the same tyre as Mercedes, but I wasn’t sure if they were pushing flat out so I just kept it in my mind that maybe in the last few laps they might suddenly find some pace as they are normally very fast. I would say in the middle of that last stint it looked like they were struggling on tyres and didn’t have that extra pace over us and from there I felt pretty comfortable out in the lead.

Have you got any new radio messages lined up for this week?

Let’s keep this week’s a surprise but I think we should keep it going. I didn’t think about the Grandma comment in advance though, that just came out while I was driving and wanting to push!

What are your thoughts on the upcoming race in Barcelona?

Well it’s a different track so let’s see how competitive we are against Mercedes and how the temperatures have an impact on everyone. The track at Barcelona is also quite hard on the tyres so I’m not sure how they will hold out in the heat. There will be a lot of unknowns as we usually race there earlier in the year, but I’m really looking forward to it and after the win last weekend I’m excited to get back on track.

ALEX ALBON Q&A

You put in a brilliant drive on Sunday and showed yet again how impressive you are at overtaking, battling from ninth to fifth. How do you view the race?

I’m happy, mainly because I think we made a step forward as a Team last weekend but also because I’m a bit more comfortable with the car. As a Team we had the best pace on the circuit and so that gives everyone, including Max and myself, a boost. It was a really good day for us and yeah I’m happy.

You’ve shown how strong you are on Sundays and it’s now just about getting more comfortable with the car over one lap. Do you feel like we’re getting closer to achieving that?

We’re getting there. I think two weeks in a row at Silverstone obviously helped us directly compare everything from one week to the next and the car did feel much better at the second race weekend so that’s very positive. Of course we still need to do our work and that doesn’t all happen overnight but we’ll keep pushing and try to extract more from our package to get me more comfortable with the car.

Will the Team look at how the RB16 behaves at the Barcelona circuit this weekend compared with pre-season testing, or are you focused on the here and now?

I think the main thing about going back to Barcelona is that we more or less know what to expect from the car. The car has obviously developed and so it’s different from the one at pre-season testing but it will still keep the same traits. We’ve ironed it out a lot more and the car is much better than it was back in February. So this weekend won’t be about comparing our package to pre-season, it will be about improving it over last weekend at Silverstone so we continue to push forwards.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is said to be a “misnomer” in terms of reflecting a car’s competitiveness. Do you think there could be some surprises this weekend?

Yes it is but I don’t think we’re going to see any real surprises. From the races we’ve done this season we more or less know where everyone stands. As a Team we know where we are strong and where we can improve. On paper, Barcelona was pretty good to us in pre-season testing but it was very early days back then and all the other teams have improved.

Triple headers are highly demanding so how will you spend your time between Silverstone and Barcelona?

Triple headers are definitely demanding so Monday was just about chilling out at home. I have played some golf and I’ll do some training and then it will already be time to fly to Barcelona on Wednesday.

Red Bull

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