Christian Horner will likely be scratching his head in confusion after Purple Bull had been outperformed by their sister staff on Friday on the F1 Australian Grand Prix, it was claimed.
Racing Bulls duo Yuki Tsunoda and rookie Isack Hadjar had been fourth and sixth on the follow timesheet respectively.
Though Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and each McLarens went quicker, and Lewis Hamilton was between them, it was an excellent begin to the 2025 F1 marketing campaign for Racing Bulls.
“Each drivers are doing an incredible job, displaying loads of confidence,” Karun Chandhok informed Sky Sports activities.
“Hadjar significantly, on his first day as a grand prix driver, to be forward of Verstappen!
“I think about there are stern conversations occurring back-and-forth.
“It’s on Friday and we don’t know the engine modes. However [Racing Bulls] will sleep nicely tonight.
“I’m unsure that the Purple Bull camp will. He was six tenths away from Leclerc’s time.”
Purple Bull ‘head-scratching’ after F1 Australian GP follow
Max Verstappen was seventh in follow for the F1 Australian Grand Prix, whereas his new teammate Liam Lawson was worryingly seventeenth.
Given McLaren entered the season anticipated to own the quickest automobile, and Ferrari had hype surrounding Hamilton and the competitiveness of their SF-25, it was an early setback for Purple Bull.
“Max was deep into Flip 1 and three, he couldn’t get the automobile stopped. His drive was edgy,” Chandhok assessed.
“Lawson didn’t look comfy. At no level did he pop up on the timesheet.
“Even when he went from the medium to the comfortable, he was nonetheless behind Max’s medium time.
“It’s been a troublesome day, he was six tenths away from Max.
“There will likely be some head-scratching.
“However tomorrow is a recent day and we’ll see if they’ll drag themselves out.”
Learn extra: Long term information evaluation establishes McLaren and Ferrari pecking order in Australia
Purple Bull aren’t any strangers to turning a below-par Friday into an excellent Saturday, significantly with Verstappen behind the wheel of their automobile.
Verstappen, who’s chasing a fifth consecutive drivers’ title this season, claimed the stability of his RB21 was tremendous however he struggled with grip.
He conceded that the character of his issues is perhaps tough for his engineers to unravel earlier than qualifying.
Purple Bull staff principal Christian Horner additionally mounted a defence of Lawson, who was half-a-second slower than Verstappen in follow.
Lawson occupies the unenviable function of Verstappen’s teammate, a standing which has chewed up 5 earlier drivers.
Horner admitted that Lawson was sluggish on Friday however insisted he was a rookie (regardless of him driving in 11 grands prix previous to 2025), and that he can be given time to develop into his function.
