Verstappen and Red Bull struggle in Friday practice in France

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Max Verstappen admitted that he had been struggling to find a proper balance for his Red Bull in today's free practice sessions at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet

Verstappen was less than a tenth off the pace of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc in the first session, but dropped to third in FP2 and was over half a second off the pace of Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari.

"I think FP2 was a little bit more difficult for us," Verstappen admitted when he spoke to the media after the end of the day's track action. "We just didn't really get the balance like we hoped for.

Read also: Sainz and Leclerc shine in FP2 under the French sun

"We were trying a few things with the cars," he added. "So we'll have a look at it all for tomorrow and try to be closer to where we were today."

While Ferrari ended up with a big advantage in single lap speed, Red Bull seemed to have a slight edge when it came to race pace simulations, which gave Verstappen cause for cautious optimism for the weekend.

"The long-run is a bit better," he affirmed. "But again the tyres are running really hot and it's very difficult to judge where you are. We still have a little bit of work to do.

"In general we all needed a few more laps to really have a good look at the long run," he added.

Tyre wear had been a big factor in the last race in Austria, which saw Leclerc take victory despite a sticking throttle, having passed Verstappen on track n several occasions.

Asked if he felt that there might be a repeat of this in Sunday's French Grand Prix, Verstappen said: "Overall this track is very hard on the tyres anyway, so I think you cannot compare it to Austria."

Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez also had a subdued FP2, finishing in tenth place and over a second and a half slower than Sainz having completed just 16 laps during FP2 - fewer than anyone else.

“We were basically having some delays," the Mexican driver confirmed. "A bit of an issue with one of the anti-roll bars but nothing major.

"It’s been a very short stint on that soft tyre, but it’s what it is and hopefully tomorrow we are able to put it all together and be in the fight."

He admitted that the loss of track time in the afternoon had put him on the backfoot going into the rest of the weekend.

“Obviously I’m not very comfortable at the moment with the car," he said. "There’s some good work and understanding to be done over tonight, and we will try to pick up the best pieces for tomorrow’s qualifying and race.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.