Coming off back-to-back wins to open the 2024 season, Max Verstappen was in the odd position of being on the back foot in Melbourne in friday after finishing more than three tenths off the pace of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen suffered a lack of track time in FP2 after running wide in first practice caused damage to the floor of the RB20, which was still being repaired when the the afternoon session got under way.
“Unfortunately a little bit messy because of what happened in FP1. I went wide, damaged the floor and also the chassis. It took a little bit longer to fix that," he explained.
Verstappen did eventually hit the track almost 20 minutes into FP2, and finished ahead of Leclerc's team mate Carlos Sainz, Aston Martin pair Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, and Mercedes driver George Russell.
“The turnaround was very quick. We did it as a team so I still more or less completed the programme," he said. "I would have liked to have had a few more laps; I didn’t manage to do many, but I think the laps we did were good."
But the reigning champion admitted that the team had work to do this weekend and suggested that Ferrari had made definite progress on their pace since the opening rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
“I think Ferrari is quick," he said. "From our side I think there are also a few more things that we can fine-tune, so nothing crazy, nothing worrying. I think we know what we have to focus on."
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko concurred. "The long run was very impressive [but] our set-up is not yet right," he told Sky Sports Germany. “We need to make improvements.
"I think the set-up is going in the right direction. However, the 15 minutes that we ultimately lost [in FP2] meant that it wasn't what we had imagined. He touched a kerb and this contact caused relatively heavy damage.
"The car is not bad, but Leclerc has set a pace that still needs a lot of fine-tuning. In general, you have to say that the field is getting closer together," he acknowledged.
“But I think Ferrari drove at full power in the qualifying simulation, not us, and that's why I don't see the three tenths as critical," Marko added.
Verstappen's Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez ended the day in P8, and afterwards the Mexican driver spoke of the challenges posed by the sunshine at Albert Park Circuit and the wind on Friday.
“As usual Melbourne is quite tricky, especially when we go to the afternoon,” he said. “Visibility is super poor with the sun pretty much on your face, so it’s really hard to see.
“Overall I think we’ve got some work to do," he admitted. "Degradation wise it looks quite high on the long runs. We need to look at that and it will be interesting to see what the best strategy will be this weekend.
"We need to put it all together because it will be important to qualify high up," he added. "Ferrari look strong, this circuit seems to be better for them, they have been competitive in the long runs.
"They will be a challenge to beat this weekend, generally they are quite fast around here so it could be interesting to see how we match up," he said. "[But] I think we're in a good place, so we should be looking strong for tomorrow."
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