Before this year, the slow Turn 10 left-hander would normally be taken in second gear – and by the majority, it still is. So the big spike in revs and the squirm under braking when Verstappen flashed into view on a push lap for the first time was striking.
Verstappen downshifted to first gear while still doing a lot of the braking work, so the rev rise was significant - but obviously within the engine’s tolerances - and the car behaviour shifted a lot too.
Nothing crazy has quite come to pass but throughout Wednesday’s running Verstappen was consistently using first gear where it would never normally be needed and where (initially) everyone else was using second gear.
Before this year, the slow Turn 10 left-hander would normally be taken in second gear – and by the majority, it still is. So the big spike in revs and the squirm under braking when Verstappen flashed into view on a push lap for the first time was striking.