“It’s super slippery”– Max Verstappen frustrated with ‘too tight’ tyre setup

“It’s super slippery”– Max Verstappen, frustrated with the too-tight tyre setup at Portimao causing a lack of grip on the track.

On the first day of the Portuguese Grand Prix, drivers struggled on the grip, causing them to lose timing on both sessions compared to the last year’s Grand Prix at the same venue in October.

Pirelli has brought the three hardest compound tyres from its range of five-dry weather tyres – the C1s, C2s and C3s – to the circuit. Max Verstappen finished a close second to Lewis Hamilton in the FP2 but was frustrated by the situation.

“It’s just very tricky out there with the tarmac again,” said Verstappen. “It’s super slippery. I know it’s the same for everyone, but it’s not really enjoyable to drive.

“Of course, the tyres have changed, and of course we’ve lost a bit of grip from the car compared to last year, but yeah, it’s very tricky out there, and it’s a shame.

“Because it’s all about tyre prep, tyre temperature, and it shouldn’t be like that, but it’s of course like I said before, it’s the same for everyone.”

Should have brought the softer tyres– Lewis Hamilton

Meanwhile, Hamilton also expressed his qualms with the tyres’ grip on the track and suggested that Pirelli should have brought the softer tyres.

“We came here last year and the tyre was too hard, and come here again and the same tyre [compounds],” he said. “They’re [the construction] harder this year.”

“So it feels like we’ve come with the too hard compound in my opinion, it should have been mid-range, C2s, C3s, C4s, but everyone’s on the same ones so we’ll get through it somehow.”

Hamilton also felt that he didn’t have his best on the track on Friday, which mirrors the opinion of Verstappen above.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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