Max Verstappen explains impact of first day with stand-in F1 race engineer

Max Verstappen says he immediately gelled with stand-in race engineer Simon Rennie during practice for the Austrian Grand Prix in the absence of his right-hand man Gianpiero Lambiase.

For the first time since graduating to Red Bull’s flagship F1 team in 2016, Verstappen has to do without Lambiase on the pit wall, with the Anglo-Italian engineer skipping the race weekend due to personal reasons.

Red Bull’s simulator chief Rennie has stepped in to fill the role, with the two practice sessions on Friday marking the first time Verstappen has directly worked with him during a race weekend.

Although Rennie has primarily operated from the factory at Milton Keynes in recent years, he previously engineered the likes of Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull, forming a particularly strong bond with the latter.

The 45-year-old also served as the race engineer for F1 champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen during a previous stint at Renault/Lotus prior to moving to Red Bull in 2013.

Verstappen was satisfied with how Rennie adapted to the role, praising his experience and how quickly he settled into the role.

“So far today it's been really good with Simon,” explained the Dutchman. “I've known Simon for a long time on the other side of the garage and working with him also in the simulator.

“He has a lot of experience anyway so it's been actually very, very good today. He was straight on it and it was nice.  

Verstappen ended Friday’s second practice session third-fastest, more than three tenths of a second off the pace set by McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the relatively short 4.3km Red Bull Ring.

The four-time F1 world champion reported a lack of pace and heavy understeer on the RB21 when asked to sum up his day.

“Overall it was quite straightforward,” he said. We didn't have any big issues, but just lacking a bit of pace.

“A bit of too much understeer in the car as well, short run and long run. So that is something that we have to try and get rid of.”

What makes Max Verstappen so good at Spielberg?

Verstappen has a strong track record on Red Bull’s home turf, having won four of the last seven races at the Styrian venue.

Sky Sports analyst Naomi Schiff believes Verstappen’s precision and confidence in cornering gives him an edge over his rivals at Spielberg.

“There's certainly tracks that drivers enjoy and some tracks that suit their driving styles more,” she explained.

“This one is a bit of an anomaly because I think a lot of drivers can be good around here. It's one of those where there's a lot of runoff in a lot of areas, so you can push the boundaries, you don't have to be nervous about walls or making a mistake that have big consequences.

“But because there are only seven corners, you have to really make that difference in all those corners. The thing that Max has - and he's got sort of everywhere - is that he's just got so much confidence in his equipment and he knows how to find the limit and not go past it, whereas some drivers might still be teetering on the edge of that and might run wide or lock a wheel because they know that they can get away with it.

“With Max, it's just all about precision around here, and I think he's confident, he knows how to make that car do exactly what he needs it to do.”