BAKU, Azerbaijan -- After topping both Friday practice sessions for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Max Verstappen says he could have gone even quicker in the evening session.
Red Bull has rarely featured at the very top of the timesheets this year and the team was expecting to struggle this weekend on Baku street circuit's long straights. However, as other drivers struggled for grip, Verstappen appeared to find a good balance between a low-drag setup on the straights and a decent level of grip in the corners. He beat Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas to the fastest time by 0.1s but said the gap could have been bigger with a clean lap.
"Everything else was working really good," he said. "So from that point I felt very good in the car even though, I think, in my short runs in the second practice I couldn't really take the maximum out of it because of traffic and yellow flags. So we can be quite happy.
"First of all I went out of the garage and yellow flags then it was a Virtual Safety Car, so you can't warm up your tyres like you want to. So to be up there without an ideal lap is very positive."
Verstappen's near perfect day was spoiled in the final 30 seconds of the session when he lost control of his car at Turn 1 and hit the barriers.
"It was very weird to be honest," he explained. "I locked up and I was still trying to make the corner but then I thought I would just try to play it safe and just take the exit road. Then suddenly I lost the rear and I had like a four-wheel power slide into the barrier.
"I've had that before you know so your heart rate doesn't go up. But the whole day has been really positive, except that last lap. Straight away I felt really good in the car, the car was handling really well. This has definitely been the most Friday of the year so far."
Although Friday practice bodes well for Red Bull, Verstappen is wary that Ferrari and Mercedes are likely to up their games in qualifying.
"You always have to be careful. We know that in qualifying Mercedes will turn up their power. To be ahead on a Friday is always positive, we'll see tomorrow, to stay there will be difficult but at least we have a better pace than normal."