Red Bull is still searching for Verstappen’s balance

Max Verstappen only ran in FP2 after Ayumu Iwasa used his car in the morning and finished ninth, 0.818s behind Russell. He reported balance problems and requested a front-wing change. Red Bull also identified bouncing and a lack of downforce without isolating one cause.

Liam Lawson was fourth in FP1 with two sets of softs and 12th in FP2 on a more long-run-focused programme. The team believes its race pace is better than its one-lap pace, but Lawson admits a downforce deficit. Verstappen goes into FP3 with only one hour of Friday running.