Red Bull are "lacking grip," admits Verstappen after opening day at Barcelona
Red Bull endured a difficult and inconclusive opening day at the Barcelona‑Catalunya Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen unable to match the pace of his front‑running rivals in either practice session and both Isack Hadjar and Ayumu Iwasa facing steep learning curves in their respective outings.
After Verstappen admitted on Thursday that he was unsure how competitive the RB22 would be at this circuit, Friday’s running offered little reassurance, as the team struggled with grip, balance and overall confidence in the car.
In FP1, Verstappen finished fourth, nearly seven tenths off George Russell’s benchmark. The Dutchman was visibly fighting the car throughout the session, reporting inconsistent balance and a lack of grip in both high‑ and low‑speed corners.
“We didn’t feel that comfortable in the high or low speed today,” he said afterwards. “We were lacking grip, feeling in the car and balance, so that is something we are going to try to work on overnight.
"The tyre compounds were tricky for everyone today; there is little grip and the cars were drifting around a lot. Our Team struggled a little bit more on the balance, but I do think it was tricky for everyone. We are not fighting up there at the front, but we will work on things overnight and see what we can improve on ahead of tomorrow’s Qualifying.”
Iwasa, stepping into Hadjar’s car for FP1 as part of Red Bull’s rookie‑driver programme, completed a clean session and finished fourteenth. For the Japanese driver, the hour was primarily about adaptation and feedback.
“It’s always special for me to drive a Formula One car, and I really enjoyed being back on the track today,” he said. “This was my first time driving the new car under these regulations, which are quite different to the last time I drove one, so Isack gave me some good advice before the session. I was able to put together some good laps, push the car, and provide useful feedback to the Team on how it was behaving.”
FP2 brought little improvement for the senior car. Verstappen slipped to sixth, and notably, he was the only driver to run the hard tyre during the session — a strategic experiment that left him unrepresentative on the timesheets but also highlighted Red Bull’s willingness to explore alternative approaches for Sunday.
His 1:16.321 lap left him well adrift of the McLarens and Mercedes, and the RB22 continued to look unsettled in the warm, windy conditions.
Hadjar returned to the cockpit for FP2 and finished tenth, completing the team’s run plan but acknowledging that he lacked rhythm after missing the morning session.
“Missing FP1 this morning meant I didn’t feel fully comfortable in the car right away, so I could have done with a few more laps,” he said. “We completed our run plan and gathered some good data, but there’s a lot of work to do overnight.
"At the moment, we’re still quite far off from the top guys so we need to figure out how to close the gap. It looks like Max had a tough FP1 and FP2 too, so hopefully we can make good progress ahead of Qualifying.”
