Max Verstappen reflected on the tough start to his home race weekend, after suffering an early setback with a gearbox issue in FP1.
Red Bull managed to get him back out in time for FP2, but the Dutchman could only manage eight quickest after complaining about balance issues.
"We didn't do the first free practice on the soft tire. On the hard tire we couldn't really see how the balance was because we had very little grip. So then you are a session behind," said Verstappen to Sky Sports F1.
"You can't change the car much during a one-hour session. We just tried to deal with what we had. That wasn't great today. We can improve a lot.”
More pace to come from Red Bull
Teammate Sergio Perez also suffered from balance problems during the session and could only go 12th quickest.
Verstappen believes that there is still more to come from Red Bull this weekend, having dominated at Spa Francorchamps last time out.
He added: "We still have the whole evening and the third free practice to look at the car. We are going to try to be more competitive."
Also interesting:
F1 podcast: Could Honda stay with Red Bull beyond 2025?
As Max Verstappen took a dominant win in the Belgian Grand Prix, plenty of attention remains on off-track matters, with Audi confirming their 2026 arrival into F1, and question marks remaining over the involvement of Porsche and Honda.
RacingNews365.com F1 journalists Dieter Rencken and Michael Butterworth discuss the key topics from the Belgium Grand Prix.
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Verstappen
Sergio
Pérez
Lewis
Hamilton
Fernando
Alonso
Charles
Leclerc
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Mercedes
Ferrari
Alpine
