Max Verstappen ‘positively surprised’ with Barcelona track changes following dominant Friday

Max Verstappen said he was “positively surprised” with the changes made to the Barcelona track and suggested they could help with overtaking.

Ahead of the 2023 race, the Spanish Grand Prix has reverted back to a layout last used in F1 in 2006 with a tricky and slow chicane in the final sector now removed, allowing the drivers a long, fast right-hander to finish their lap.

Barcelona is a circuit Verstappen has always excelled at, winning his first race there in 2016 and only once finishing outside of the podium places, and it appears he is even more of a fan now following the alterations.

Speaking after topping both of the Friday practice sessions, Verstappen said it was “a lot more fun to drive” and noted that it would be beneficial for overtaking during Sunday’s race.

“It’s been a lot more fun to drive,” he told Sky Sports F1, “F1 cars in general, they feel better at high speed so for me, the last two corners are much better to drive.

“I tried to follow a few cars as well and it seemed actually quite okay through there as well so I was positively surprised for the overtaking.”

In a weekend that was supposed to see teams like Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin make ground on Red Bull having introduced significant upgrades, Verstappen’s performances reminded them that for now the Milton Keynes outfit remains king.

The Dutchman was 0.768 seconds ahead of any other driver in FP1 and while FP2 was a little closer, Verstappen still finished 0.170 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in P2.

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Speaking about his day’s running, Verstappen said there were still a few things to fine tune but that overall, he was happy with the car’s setup.

“Overall I think we had a very good day. The car was in a good window and of course, you know, you try to fine tune a few things here and there but short run, long run everything looked quite good.

“From my side, I felt very comfortable in the car looking after the tyres. I still need to look at the lap times of others but from our side, it was a good day. [The bumps on the track are] not too bad. The track has been resurfaced a few years ago and it’s still quite easy.”