Practice day reaction: Bad balance for Max and Ricciardo flips the bird

The first two Free Practice races for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place at Yas Marina on Friday and it was a day of conflicting emotions as Max Verstappen bemoaned the balance of his car while Daniel Ricciardo gave the middle finger to Romain Grosjean.

Verstappen is seen by many as a future world champion and already has two Formula One race victories under his belt at the age of 20. It has been a season of ups and downs for the Dutchman and he is aiming to finish the campaign on a high in the last race at Abu Dhabi, even if he feels Red Bull are not quite quick enough to challenge for the win yet.

“The first training was alright, but the second less so, probably because we changed so things I wasn’t happy with," Verstappen said in the press conference after FP2.

"But that’s what practice sessions are for. We now know what works and doesn’t work so we’ll adjust things for tomorrow.

“There were no problems today so that’s good. But we have to improve as we’re not fast enough to challenge for the win. I’m not happy yet with the balance, but hopefully we can be closer in qualifying. Usually we should then be even closer in the race.”

Verstappen ended up finishing sixth, but it was a more positive round for Ricciardo, even if he did give another driver the finger!

The Australian, who eventually finished third, was attempting to test out his new soft tyres with a hot lap, only to be halted in his path by Grosjean, who was lingering near the start line looking for a hot lap of his own. Ricciardo eventually saw the funny side, before insisting that Red Bull needed to find extra speed from somewhere to compete with Mercedes and Ferrari.

“I had a bruised finger. I had an oversteer and was just shaking it off…” the Red Bull driver joked.

“He [Grosjean] didn’t need to do that, it was only practice so I am not fazed by it.

“It was a heat of the moment thing, for sure, but it was frustrating. I was on a hot lap and he was on an out lap.”

“Our short run pace looks pretty good,” he continued. “Still not on Lewis’ pace, but fairly there with Ferrari. We know we will need to find a couple more tenths tomorrow.

“The long run there is a little bit more to find. A bit more work tonight, but generally not a bad day.”