Max Verstappen says the steering wheel issues he spoke about in F1 Turkish GP weren’t performance limiting as Red Bull has a filming run.
It was mostly a smooth run for Red Bull’s Verstappen in F1 Turkish GP apart from the one moment when he came on the radio talking about the steering wheel being too much on the left side. It didn’t lose him performance, but it seemed like a moment at that time.
Post-race, Verstappen clarified it was not related to gearshift and not performance limiting too. “It was not the gear shift,” he said. “There was a word next to the number where I can see the gears which was not disappearing, so I had to change one rotary and it was fine. So it was not performance limited.
“The steering was a bit left-hand-down, but also of course the tyres are wearing so you get a bit of an uneven platform but I could feel this already from the start. But, again, this is not performance limiting – but it’s better to say it than say nothing,” summed up Verstappen, as he expanded on his race start from second on the grid.
As he said after qualifying, he was a bit worried to be on the other side of the grid, but it worked out as he lost no place. “I still think the inside is not as grippy as the outside but at least I didn’t lose a position,” said Verstappen. “I think in a way it was better that it was a wet start than a dry start.”
With nothing happening in the grand prix, Verstappen salvaged a good second for himself to retake the drivers’ points lead. From very early on, the Dutchman settled down and brought him the car. There were some moments in tricky conditions but nothing more.
“Considering our whole weekend being a bit off the pace compared to Mercedes I think we had quite a decent race,” said Verstappen. “I mean in the beginning I just tried to follow Valtteri but of course we had to manage the tyres so I just dropped back a bit and at one point we started to pick-up the pace a little bit.
“Also because the track was drying a bit but yeah, there was no point where I would attack Valtteri and he was just managing his race of course also very well and looking after his tyres and of course I had Charles quite close behind me in the first stint. He had very good pace as well.
“At one point I said the tyres are pretty good, like they were completely worn to slicks, so it was very tricky out there of course, when the track is like it was, so we decided to box, and then after the stop, with like 20 laps to go, I think, just decided to bring it home. I anyway didn’t have the pace to fight Valtteri, so there was also no need to try to be within two, three tenths, to try and just follow him. Just save the tyres to the end, basically,” summed up Verstappen, who is now six points ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
The work for Red Bull wasn’t over with the Sunday’s F1 race as the team stayed back along with Alexander Albon for some filming run in the RB16B. The team is allowed for two 100km runs in a year and their first took place pre-season at Silverstone.
They had both Verstappen and Sergio Perez for that run, but this time, it was only Albon in the car. It is not uncommon to have delayed filming days, but this close to the end of the season always raises some alarm bells of some sort of data collection – even though the slow run and promotional tyres doesn’t allow for much to be done.
Another of @redbullracing’s private testing, as it seems like, with @alex_albon – this time at Istanbul Park circuit! Now what’s this for? 🤔 #F1 | @MsportXtra pic.twitter.com/gCvpze05KF
— Darshan Chokhani (@DarshanChokhani) October 12, 2021
Back in 💙 for a filming day with @alex_albon at Istanbul Park ✌️ pic.twitter.com/n5LcSnui18
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) October 12, 2021
https://twitter.com/redbullracing/status/1447931901910601750?s=20
Here’s Valtteri Bottas on using Max Verstappen pit call as base