Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Shanghai International Circuit, 2019

Leclerc surprised by Red Bull’s speed in China

2019 Chinese Grand Prix

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Red Bull’s pace in practice for the Chinese Grand Prix has taken Ferrari by surprise, Charles Leclerc has admitted.

Max Verstappen ended second practice just two-tenths of a second slower than Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari.

“Mercedes and Red Bull, everyone is pretty close here,” said Leclerc. “We definitely did not expect Red Bull to be so close but it’s a good surprise. At least there will be some fight on the track and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Red Bull discovered it had made an error with the set-up of its car in Bahrain due to a problem with a sensor. The team has now corrected the mistake.

Leclerc lost some running in the second practice session as the team had to inspect his power unit. “We just wanted to do some further check on the oil,” he said. “We are not completely sure what happened there.”

However he said he is pleased with the balance of his Ferrari after the first day of running.

“In terms of performance I think we are there,” said Leclerc. “In FP2 I didn’t have a clean lap so [it’s] pointless to look at performance but overall I’m really happy with the car.

“Still some work to do on the balance here and there but should be good for tomorrow.”

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17 comments on “Leclerc surprised by Red Bull’s speed in China”

  1. In a future where it is Charles vs Max, I will probably be favoured Charles for title wins. His maturity shines through the more I read / see about him.

    1. It’s a Prost – Senna, head – heart difference yes. Should be good for some entertainment once Max gets a slightly more competitive car.

    2. Funny thing is these two drivers have a past in karting and junior single seater series (F3).
      Max was racing for VAR in F3 in 2014, when Max left to F1 he advised the team owner Frist van Amersfoort to take on Leclerc as possible the best driver available… Leclerc finished 4th in 2015 in a not so impressive field of competitors.
      Max finished 3rd, though he had most wins…. + most DNF’s of all drivers that season and suffered from many gridpenalties wich left him out of reach for the title… in terms of being the dominant driver…RBR signed him half way the season after a streak of 6 wins in a row… speaks volumes.
      VAR was, at best a midfield car, so both driver really impressed with top 4 finishes.

      Fans will pick their favorites… cause of where the driver come from, personality, character..or even for their soft skin… Personally I go for racecraft, they both are top drivers, though Ferrari may appear the stronger car so far… my guess is Verstappen would beat Leclerc 9 out of 10 races based of how they compared in karting and F3…Leclerc was good, though Verstappen exceeded all expectations.

    3. I am confident that Max will beat Charles in the same car or a car with similar speed. 9 out of 10 times Max has beaten Charles in karting .. whether it was a KF or KZ (with gears) kart it didn’t matter! Max is also brilliant with simracing .. last weekend he won the 8 hours of Silverstone for the Redline Racing Team and has multiple world records on certain tracks.

      Max is more like Senna and Charles more like Prost …

      1. So LeClerc will win more titles, more races and live to tell the tail.

      2. 9 out of 10 times, hahahah. He’d be happy if he’d win 3 out of 10.
        Charles drove him crazy, with less experience.
        Simracing? What does that have to do with anything wrt beating LEC?

        Senna had almost 20 wins and 33 poles in his first 83 GP’, and a WDC, with another F1 great as teammate, and had always defeated his teammate. Max has just 5 wins, some were lucky, and got bested by teammates 3 out of 4 times. No comparison.

      3. Rubbish, neither are like Senna or Prost. Leclerc & Max are both very much their own personality & driving/racing style yet every fan are so quick to compare each talented driver to Senna or Prost, it’s just lazy.

  2. With Bottas lapping only a 0.1s quicker, than last years FP2… let me just say today’s times are greatly irrelevant.

    Come Q2-Q3, then we’ll see more real times, and RBR will probably not be that close.

  3. Now after the original one and only TOTOtroll we got a new one.. the CHARLStroll….
    come on now.. tommorow Mercedes and Ferrari will release their true engines power and RB will be i predict 600-700ms bellow them or even more…

    1. ‘Ferrari will release their true engines power’ and break during the race?

      1. I think we’ll definitely see a blown Ferrari engine this race.
        OR their performance might be again back to Australia’s level.

  4. F1 drama team should be introduced, evaluate and pick the “Best sandbagging team”, “Most successful actor”. Winner of these 2 awards shall have -20 points to the WCC.

    1. Why “-20”?
      With the current tendency to celebrate non-achievements, I believe “+20” for successful sandbagging is more appropriate.
      It will award the cunningness and deception of respective winner-team.

  5. Is it really Red Bull speed or actually the Max/RB combo? Cause Gasly is again fighting with the midfield…

    1. Gasly pave the way for other midfield drivers to gain P6. I don’t think he’ll be in RBR next year.

  6. I think we’ll definitely see a blown Ferrari engine this race.
    OR their performance might be again back to Australia’s level.

  7. Red Bull ‘s times were due to a front wing that will be illegal in qualy.
    The fact is they are at least 0.5 seconds slower in race trim.
    Oh, and Honda lost its first engine today.

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