Mercedes' pace on the soft tyre has Max Verstappen predicting a "tight" battle at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver initially carried on where he left off last Sunday when he led Practice 1 on Friday, but would then drop to third in the afternoon as Lewis Hamilton led teammate Valtteri Bottas in Spielberg.
For this weekend's second race in Austria, Pirelli has shifted to the softest three tyres with the C3 now the hard, C4 the medium and C5 the soft.
And it is on that C5 which Mercedes appears to have a current edge on their rivals after practice.
“They seem quite quick on the soft compound,” said Verstappen. “From our side, it wasn’t perfect on that run, but nevertheless I felt good in the car.
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“Everything feels quite good - there are no real problems. We just need to make sure we have a bit more pace on the soft because on the medium we looked good and on the long runs we looked decent, and at the end of the day that’s the most important.”
Last weekend, the now three-time winner at the Red Bull Ring took pole by two-tenths before winning by 35 seconds on race day.
But the Dutchman does expect a tougher battle this time around.
“I think it will be tight,” added Verstappen. “They’ve definitely improved a bit. We’ll see tomorrow in qualifying but most important is with these softer compounds to make them last in the race, so that’s also going to be a challenge.”
If Mercedes are able to take the fight to Max, Red Bull will need Sergio Perez in the frame to limit their ability to attack.
Worryingly, however, the Mexican was only 11th fastest on Friday afternoon.
“It was quite a tough day out there, not feeling fully comfortable with the car on the softest tyre,” he explained.
“I think there’s some analysis to be done there to get the pace back – we should be able to find it overnight. Definitely a lot to see and understand from the tyres and my balance about what’s going on.”
