Red Bull tipped for 11-hour overnight simulator session to cure Barcelona woes

Ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok believes Red Bull’s simulator drivers will be in for a long night as they look to find improvements ahead of qualifying.

Red Bull’s stuttering level of performance continued on Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen was heard complaining about the handling of his RB20 as he set the fifth-quickest time of the day.

Sergio Perez struggled for pace yet again, only ending up 13th in the order.

It was a similar story at Imola, struggling for pace earlier in the weekend before a sensational lap from Verstappen to take pole against all of the odds.

Chandhok believes a similar effort will be needed for this weekend.

“They will have someone in the simulator for 10 or 11 hours overnight,” Chandhok said.

“That’s what happened at Imola. They were nowhere on the Friday in Imola, Sebastien Buemi did 11 hours overnight, then Max got pole.

“I don’t think they are uncatchable. That’s the key point this weekend. Perez looks behind the game, he needs to raise it.

“There are six or seven cars who could get pole. Max needs to bring his A-game. So do Red Bull.”

Former IndyCar driver Danica Patrick was trackside for Sky during FP2 and noticed how the RB20 struggled in the middle part of the lap.

“I don’t know if what I saw on track is what’s going on with the setup. But I can explain what I saw.

“Coming out on the fast S’s, especially 7 and 8 and coming up that hill, you saw the cars bottoming out. Ferrari in particular. You didn’t see that at all from Max, from the Red Bulls.

“I wonder if the attitude of the car has so much rake. The rear end is up so it’s not going to hit as much.

“Also, if the car is understeering in the middle of the corner, it doesn’t give you a lot to lean on when it catches, which is usually does, especially with the kerbing here.

“Watching them all brake into Turn 10, they didn’t look like they could get as much out of the car into the braking zone as Mercedes, as Ferrari. It was noticeable from an attitude perspective.”