Only sixth in the Sprint at Zandvoort, Max Verstappen believes that managing tire degradation could be an asset for Red Bull over the distance of a Grand Prix.
Read more George Russell relieved after a potentially tricky Sprint finish at Zandvoort
Max Verstappen was unable to join the fight for victory during the Sprint of the Dutch Grand Prix. Starting sixth, the Red Bull driver finished in the same position after 24 laps, far from the leading quartet made up of George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, and Kimi Antonelli.
The Dutchman quickly found himself in the slipstream of Oscar Piastri, without managing to find a way past the McLaren. Lewis Hamilton also remained threatening behind him for part of the race.
Despite this disappointing result in front of his home crowd, Verstappen identified a more encouraging element ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix: the behavior of the RB22 when tire degradation starts to become significant.
Verstappen unable to keep up at the start of the stint
Red Bull’s main weakness appeared very quickly. With still fresh tires, Verstappen simply did not have the pace needed to follow the leading cars.
“Over one lap, it was quite clear that I couldn’t keep up during the first two laps with the tires. They just got away from me” admitted the four-time world champion.
A trend that confirms the difficulties already encountered on Friday. Verstappen had to settle for sixth position on the Sprint grid, more than half a second behind Russell’s pole.
However, Red Bull had already planned several changes even before the start of the short race.
Read more Charles Leclerc explains how he exploited a weakness of Lando Norris to overtake him
“We had already planned these changes. The Sprint was essentially to do the laps before being able to modify the car now” explained Verstappen.
Tire degradation, a hope for Red Bull
The situation became more interesting as the laps went on. When his rivals’ tires began to lose their effectiveness, Verstappen noticed that his deficit was shrinking.
“Once tire degradation started to be felt, it was a bit better. I would say we were probably a bit more competitive compared to the leading cars, so it was maybe promising.”
This observation could become more important on Sunday. The Sprint was only 24 laps, while the Grand Prix will be contested over 72 laps. Tire management should therefore play a much more significant role.
However, Verstappen was not really able to exploit this potential as he remained stuck behind Piastri.
“I got a bit stuck behind Oscar and I had a lot of difficulties with the rear. So we will make some changes. I hope they will improve the overall performance of the car and we’ll see if we can reduce the gap a bit.”
Red Bull now has the possibility to modify the settings of the RB22 before qualifying. If the team manages to improve its pace over one lap without sacrificing tire management, Verstappen could have better tools for his last home Grand Prix.
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