Red Bull aren't far off Mercedes and Ferrari in China according to Max Verstappen, who is expecting a close race on Sunday.
Verstappen finished second practice just over three-tenths adrift of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, with the pair split by just 0.007s at the top of the timing sheets.
The Dutchman says Red Bull can be happy with its performance on Friday, describing their long runs as "very positive" and therefore a good indication of strong race pace, which is important here as overtaking is often abundant on the wide Shanghai circuit.
"We spent a bit of time during the first session today working on the setup of the car in order to understand it better," explained Verstappen. "By the end of the day the pace was looking good and I think we can be happy with the car’s performance, it’s always good to finish a day’s running with no major problems and we don’t look too far off.
"We just managed to fit in a longer stint before the rain came towards the end of the second session so we didn’t feel the need to stay out. The long runs were once again very positive and I felt pretty comfortable.
"A little bit of fine tuning on the short runs to get the balance better and we should be alright. This track is good for overtaking anyway so I think we can have a good race judging by our pace."
In contrast Daniel Ricciardo, who finished ninth, half a second off his team-mate in FP2, struggled but is confident pace can be found.
"Generally with the harder compounds I was more comfortable, but once we put the ultrasoft on we didn’t have as much speed so we need to find a bit of time there and understand where we are losing.
"I obviously know what doesn’t feel right in the car, but now we need to find the answers and change that for tomorrow. The long runs were much better and I’m confident we can find the speed.
"Overall, we aren’t looking too bad and I hope we can be in the fight with Ferrari and Mercedes."
