In terms of whether he was chasing a few different paths with testing various things, Verstappen added: “Just trying different set-up directions, because that’s at the end of the day what practice is for. Also things that we might want to learn a bit more about the car and that’s why we’re doing it.”
Looking ahead to the remainder of the weekend – where temperatures are set to stay high – Verstappen reflected on what Red Bull need to do in order to be in the close fight at the front, with the leading five cars all within a tenth and a half of each other in FP2.
FP1: Verstappen heads Leclerc during first practice at Monza as Antonelli crashes on debut
“Still a bit of work to do to be really competitive,” the reigning world champion commented. “But like I said, FP1 actually felt quite decent, FP2 maybe not as much in the beginning but then it felt a bit better in the long run, so now we just need to bring it all together to be in the mix for tomorrow.”
On the other side of the garage, Sergio Perez ran an out-of-sync programme in second practice after his car underwent a precautionary gearbox change between the sessions, meaning that his time on track was delayed. He ended the hour in P15 on the timesheets.
“We are a bit [on] the back foot,” Perez remarked later on. “We still had a lot of issues [in FP2] because everything was quickly done. We had a few mechanical issues, so I think we just have to wait and see what actually the car is doing to get on top of.
