Verstappen: Paul-Ricard, “neither my favorite track nor the worst”

Max Verstappen got off to a good start to his meeting at the French GP as he finished the first day of testing at Paul-Ricard in third place, seven tenths off the benchmark set by Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), just behind his teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

“The first practice session was complicated because we were discovering the track and something was damaging the tires after just two laps. The team modified the car quite a bit for the second session. There's still a lot of room for improvement, but the start of the weekend still went well.", explained the Dutchman in the Castellet paddock.

Max Verstappen, like the other drivers, discovered the Paul-Ricard track as part of a Grand Prix. The pilot Red Bull remains, to say the least, measured in his feelings.

“It’s not my favorite track but it’s not the worst either. I still don't know at the moment if the circuit will allow us to surpass ourselves because I didn't drive close enough to another car since we were trying to have a free track for testing.", he added.

Max Verstappen is optimistic, especially since he found his way to the podium during the last event in Montreal (Canada). Nevertheless, the performances displayed by the Mercedes who have a new development on their Power Units encourage caution.

“Mercedes seems very fast, but tire management is essential here with the high temperatures. I remain optimistic for the future because things worked well on the car today”, warned the Red Bull driver.

Max Verstappen is in sixth place in the Championship, 18 points behind Kimi Räikkönen before the French GP.