Despondent Max Verstappen says qualifying inside top six in Abu Dhabi would be ‘a good recovery’ after ‘tricky’ Friday

Neither Max Verstappen nor Sergio Perez failed to trouble the top 10 in Free Practice 2 for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, leaving both Red Bull drivers pessimistic about their chances for Saturday evening’s qualifying session.

Red Bull have nothing left to fight for in 2024, Verstappen having taken his fourth straight drivers’ title in Las Vegas, while they are mathematically out of the running for the constructors’ title – set to be fought between McLaren and Ferrari this weekend.

FP2: Norris leads team mate Piastri and Hulkenberg during second practice in Abu Dhabi

But the drivers were nonetheless disappointed with their Friday performance at the Yas Marina Circuit, both of them vocal about their struggles over team radio as Perez finished FP2 in a lowly P14, with Verstappen even further down the order in 17th – Verstappen having given up his car to Isack Hadjar in FP1.

“Just not a very good balance to be honest,” was the verdict of Verstappen, who announced on Friday morning that he’s set become a father with partner Kelly Piquet in 2025.

“Just no connected balance from entry to mid-corner, and that makes it then of course difficult to basically push. And that’s something that we’ve got to work on overnight.

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 06: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) — Verstappen struggled with balance in FP2

“I‘m sure that we can do better,” Verstappen added, before referencing Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s one-two performance in FP2. “I’m not saying that we’ll be at McLaren level, because they seem very quick so far this weekend, but at least if we can fight in that top six, that will be a good recovery, because so far it’s been quite tricky.”

There are eyeballs aplenty on Sergio Perez this weekend, the Mexican having taken just 13 points in the last nine Grand Prix weekends, leading to question marks surrounding his future with the Red Bull team.

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Speaking to the media after FP2, Perez shared Verstappen’s frustrations with the RB20 package – while hinting that the car’s long-run pace might be more promising for Sunday evening’s season finale.

“It was tricky,” he said. “Over one lap it’s quite tricky. I think we’ve got some work to do. I think the long run is a lot more promising, but over one lap, we need to try and connect the car. We’ve been trying a lot of stuff out there, but it’s just not coming together at the moment.

Perez: Long run pace ‘very promising’ but ‘we are just slow over one lap’

“The car is not feeling tremendously bad at the moment,” Perez added. “We’re just slow over one lap, so work to do there. The car feels very different with fuel so that’s the biggest standout at the moment.

“[The long run] was very promising. But we’ve got some work to do to make sure we are able to stay competitive.”