Hannah Schmitz: 'There is a lot of performance that we can extract'

Published on 06 November 2026 by Johan Peeters

Hannah Schmitz, Head of race strategy of Oracle Red Bull Racing, reflects on Friday’s free practice sessions for the Brazilian Grand Prix: “It was a useful day. There was definitely a lot of things to work on and look into, but that is what practice is for. It was a close call on which session we would run the Hard and which session we would run the medium tyres. Ultimately most of the top teams tested the three compounds, as they are so similar, but what we will run comes down to driver and Team preference.”

“For both Max and Isack, there are things they want to look into and change overnight. There is a lot of performance that we can extract, and, in terms of lap times, we are still very competitive up there with the rest of the field. The Team are looking into several changes for Max’s car. There were things he was unhappy with, but we know what they are so can work on them. Tomorrow, the forecast is looking wet, and we will have to wait and see if Qualifying happens at the scheduled time, but we will be prepared for all eventualities.”