John N
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have fallen behind the Ferraris in the opening practice sessions of the Monaco Grand Prix, with both drivers admitting they had their work cut out.
Home hero Charles Leclerc swept both sessions, Carlos Sainz backing up a Ferrari one-two in FP2, as Red Bull ended the second session trailing the Scuderia by over three-tenths of a second.
Afterwards, Sergio Perez said that his rival team’s “very strong” Friday showing “seems to be pretty strong today. So, we will analyse everything and see what we can do. But they seem to be pretty strong today.”
“Yes, we were surprised,” admitted Perez, “we were expecting a bit of a gap but not such a gap, so plenty of work to do, and we’ll see – I mean, Q3. Q3 is what matters.”
Verstappen, who leads the drivers’ standings by 14 points, did acknowledge that Ferrari had the upper hand but said that Red Bull were still trying to strike the perfect set-up balance before he detailed the sensation of driving the brand-new 2022 car around Monaco.
“I think overall, we’ve been trying a few things around here to see how the car’s behaving,” said Verstappen. “I think I was a little bit happier in FP1 than FP2, and yes, of course, if you have a little bit of a better balance, you can attack a bit more, and of course, your lap time comes out a bit better.”
“Compared to Ferrari, we have to find a little more – and now it’s also about finding my balance.” “You can feel the weight of the cars, a bit heavier, a bit slower, a bit bumpier in these cars because they are stiffer,” added Verstappen.
“But it’s alright. It’s a bit more difficult with the visibility, but driving around here is very hectic.”
Verstappen has a six-point lead over Leclerc in the drivers’ championship while Red Bull are 26 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ – but it seems the Scuderia have the advantage in Monaco, so far.
