Verstappen completes "positive" day while Perez asks for setup changes

Having endured difficult Friday sessions in the last three rounds, championship runaway leader Max Verstappen took delighted in his "positive" and "more normal" practice day. On the other side of the garage, Sergio Perez feels that he will need to fine-tune the setup of his RB20 for the remainder of the season.

Following a hard-fought victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, Red Bull was expected to excel on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya which has played to the strengths of the team's previous cars in recent years.

Championship runaway leader Max Verstappen finished second in the opening practice before taking fifth in the second one-hour session.

The Dutchman had some tough Fridays in recent rounds, and he was delighted to have experienced a more conventional opening day this time out.

“Today we just tried a few set ups out there in FP1 and FP2 and we have been trying to fine tune the car a little bit. I think the day itself has been positive and a bit more normal without any issues.

"This is what we have been hoping for, so now it’s about tidying things up a little bit more, which is quite normal. There is still a bit of work to do but we are feeling positive going into the weekend."

His team-mate Sergio Perez's struggles in recent weeks have been well documented. The Mexican struggled for outright pace in the last three qualifying sessions which heavily compromised his race results.

Although he visited Red Bull's factory in recent days to sort out his current issues, he looked to still lack one-lap pace on Day 1 at Barcelona.

“I started the day well but then going into FP2 we made quite a few changes on set-up and I think we lost track somewhere, so there are plenty of things to analyse overnight.

"We made a lot of changes and explored the car quite a bit today, so hopefully we are able to pick the right bits from that going into tomorrow. We will work tonight to ensure the car is in the correct place for optimal performance for qualifying and the race, it’s about finding the right balance.

"Qualifying will be super crucial to me this weekend due to the three place grid penalty, the lack of overtaking around here means it will be very important to be high up, in order to get into a good position on Sunday," concluded Perez.