Max: Front wing was ‘seven degrees’ out
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen said his front-wing angle at the Turkish Grand Prix was “completely wrong” and contributed to his poor race.
The Dutchman endured a difficult Turkish Grand Prix, kicked off by dominating all the way up to Q3 before losing out to Lance Stroll in the battle for pole position.
Multiple spins then didn’t help Verstappen’s cause in the race as he became detached from the pack chasing down Racing Point, ultimately crossing the line P6.
One of those spins came behind Sergio Perez, but Verstappen said the error didn’t come as a result of trying to overtake.
“I didn’t even want to overtake him there,” he said in an interview with de Telegraaf.
“It’s not that I was too impatient or anything like that. There was nothing I could do at that spot.
“I just wanted to hook up behind him, but suddenly I understeered off the track. Then it was more or less finished. After that, I was stuck in a little train for most of the time.”
Verstappen also revealed in the interview that his RB16 had totally the wrong set-up for the race, including his front wing being “seven degrees” out of position.
“Everything went wrong basically,” he said.
“It turned out that the adjustment of my front wing was completely wrong.
“On one side we were seven degrees short of what should have been our front wing set-up. That is quite a lot really.
“Normally you adjust one degree here or there, or something like that. But seven degrees, that is a lot. So what can you do as a driver? Almost nothing works as a result of that.”
Another 1-2 in the pit lane for the Bulls 💪 The lads really are unstoppable right now with the two fastest pit stops of the #TurkishGP 🇹🇷😎 #ChargeOn 🤘 pic.twitter.com/Ypf8AkDmGv
— Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 16, 2020
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All of the drivers were united in their displeasure over the extremely slippery tarmac at Istanbul Park.
The circuit had been relaid around a month before the event and many thought it would be a similar story to Portimao, home of the Portuguese Grand Prix, where the track would rubber-in after a few Formula 1 sessions.
But that was never the case, and when the rain fell on Saturday and Sunday the track became pretty much like an ice rink.
Verstappen called the asphalt “ridiculous”.
“The state of the asphalt was ridiculous as well,” he said.
“And with this front wing set-up, there is not much you can do as a driver.”
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