Schmitz confirms Red Bull ‘looking into quite a few changes’ following Verstappen’s Sao Paulo issues

Red Bull are planning to make “quite a few changes” to Max Verstappen’s car ahead of Qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after he suffered issues with the clutch and steering during Free Practice.

Although the Dutchman finished third in both FP1 and FP2, it wasn’t the smoothest day for him as he continued to struggle with his downshifts, which has been a recurring problem this season.

He also reported heavy steering on the RB22, referring to it as a “workout”, and ultimately ended the second session slightly early because of it.

Asked whether Red Bull had resolved the steering troubles, Head of Race Strategy Hannah Schmitz responded: “I think we’ll have a different wheel for the rest of the weekend, and we’re looking into quite a few changes on Max’s side.

“There are a number of things that he was unhappy with, but we know what they all are, and they’re all things that we can work on and improve.”

Verstappen has previously explained that he relays such concerns in order to “make sure that the team is always looking into details to try and find more lap time”, which Schmitz admitted does help to unlock extra performance.

“I think there is a lot of performance to gain, and obviously, in terms of lap times, we’re still pretty competitive up there with everybody else,” she said. “So, given there’s still quite a lot of potential in the car, that looks optimistic for the rest of the weekend.

“I think it was a useful day. There’s definitely a lot of things to work on and look into overnight, but in a way, that’s what practice is for. I think there’s a lot of potential in the car, so looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”

However, she did note that the unpredictable weather at Interlagos could influence Saturday’s Qualifying hour, with rain currently forecast in the afternoon.

“It looks like it’s a very heavy rain front,” she summarised. “So whether Qualifying will actually happen at the scheduled time, I guess, is what we will find out a bit more about tomorrow.

“There are a few forecasts where it looks like it might come just after Qualifying, so there is a chance of a dry Qualifying still. We’ll be prepared for all eventualities.”

While Verstappen found himself in a tight battle with Lando Norris and George Russell in FP2 – only 0.020s separated the trio as they occupied P2 to P4 – his team mate Isack Hadjar found himself over a second adrift of the benchmark set by Kimi Antonelli.

“I was not very happy,” the Frenchman said. “I thought there was free lap time in the balance. We went in one direction and it didn't work. So, work in progress. In the end, I feel like tomorrow anyway it's going to be raining.

“But still, I want to go into FP3 and be like, okay, solved something at least. On the long run, it seems competitive.

“This morning was competitive. It's just that one-lap, single-lap pace on the soft. We need to find some easy lap time, but we know where we're heading.”