Max Verstappen dismissed concerns over Red Bull’s lack of speed during Formula 1 practice in Spain but Sergio Perez conceded he is still chasing one-lap gains.
Verstappen finished second-fastest in the opening session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday but did not set a representative time on Soft tyres after a mistake at Turn 10 in the afternoon session.
It left Verstappen down in ninth spot at the conclusion of the session.
“I just [went] a little bit wide in Turn 10, got onto the kerb,” he said. “Overall, I think we had quite a good day.
“We seem quite competitive. How competitive we’re going to be tomorrow is always going to be a question mark but from our side, we were quite happy.
“Of course you always want to improve and you want to do better but there was nothing weird going on today. So yeah, just have to make sure tomorrow, we’re out there.”
Perez, though, managed to complete his Soft tyre run but languished at the foot of the top 10.
“It was a tricky day, these days, with the limited practice we have, we had a couple of delays in both sessions, and that means we were rushing a bit into traffic and stuff like that,” he said.
“[There is] a lot of understanding and pace to be found tonight, especially over one lap. I think the long run pace looks stronger.
“We have to work and see what we are able to take for qualifying, given how important it is here.”
