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Verstappen admits he pushed too much on hard tyre

Max Verstappen admits he pushed too hard on the hard Pirelli tyre when he crashed in second practice for the British Grand Prix. 

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB after the crash

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB after the crash

Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14
Crash of Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing RB14
Marshals remove the wrecked Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing RB14
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB14

Verstappen lost the rear of his car at the Luffield right-hander and it snapped the other way around as he tried to correct it.

He hit the wall and damaged the rear of the Red Bull, missing the majority of the session.

Verstappen had already lost the last part of FP1 to a gearbox problem.

"I think I wanted to be too quick on the hard tyre, so I lost it," Verstappen explained. "Unfortunately the way then you hit the wall, it rips off then the right rear.

"I think in the end of the day it's not ideal to lose the second session, but the feeling I had before that was actually quite good.

"I think balance wise we are not too far off, we are just losing a lot of laptime on the straight."

Verstappen tried to see some positives, and insisted that he has time to do long runs on Saturday morning.

"We'll try that tomorrow, FP3 is still long enough to get that in, so I'll get some information from that, and anyway I have Daniel's data. I should be alright.

"I feel good always around this track. Of course it's better to drive a lot, but I feel confident already in FP1 with the harder tyres, I think the pace was good.

"It seems like we're definitely not fighting for pole, but we'll just try again tomorrow. At least I have two sets of softs, that's positive.

"I expected with the new surface that it would be a bit smoother, but it really wasn't. Some of the really annoying bumps have gone. But the track is always good to drive."

Having finished FP3 in fifth place, teammate Daniel Ricciardo acknowledged that Red Bull has a lot of work to do to compete with its main rivals.

"We are a bit off the pace at the moment," said the Australian. "Ferrari and Mercedes are strong and hopefully that is not the same for the whole weekend, we are going to try to find a bit of speed for tomorrow and Sunday.

"We just need to manage everything, the temps, that'll be key to have a better car on Sunday. Ferrari and Mercedes are too fast on one lap, but for the race we'll try to find one or two little secrets."

Like Verstappen, Ricciardo pinpointed the lack of straightline speed as a handicap.

"We certainly lose a fair bit. We see on the overlays, some corners we are able to gain a little bit of chunk but we lose a bit of that and more. We will do what we can.

"At the moment we seem we seem like we are not on their pace, that is the fact today. We try to find something that puts us there tomorrow, keeping the tyres in the right condition in these uncharacteristic conditions of Silverstone is key.

"If we can get on top of that, maybe the longer runs, then maybe things will come to us."

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