Verstappen and Perez buoyed by Red Bull's form in Baku

Red Bull drivers Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen sounded a positive note after the opening day at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with both of them having displayed an encouraging performance across the two Friday practice sessions.

On the back of a series of tough races, Red Bull appeared to be in great form on the opening day in Baku. Max Verstappen ended the first session atop while he took sixth in the second practice. However, he did not show his real pace on his qualifying simulation lap as he lost a big chunk of time in the last sector after eye-catching sector times in the first part of the lap.

Commenting on his day, the Dutch racer noted: "Overall, I think it has been a good day. We learnt quite a bit and now it is just about tidying up the things that we tried, but I think so far we have been more competitive this weekend so that’s positive.

"There has been a lot of work in the background and it has been positive. For sure FP2 was a bit more difficult for me. I had some issues with my visor, when the sun comes down in between the buildings you have some glaring moments and I struggled with the visibility.

"The track is also quite slippery and has a lot of 90 degree corners so I just need to get the balance together a bit more, however I’m quite confident that we can be more competitive."

His team-mate Sergio Perez looked very strong in the second practice session. The Mexican found himself on top of the timesheets after the first medium-tyre runs before clocking a very impressive lap time on the soft tyres.

Perez, who is the most successful F1 driver in Baku courtesy of his two wins, was dethroned by Charles Leclerc in the final stages of the one-hour session, but he still ended up second fastest.

The Mexican noted: "It was definitely a good solid day, I think there is a good base there for us to build from. We made a good step from FP1 to FP2 and now we just need to make sure we are able to progress from here, then we can definitely be in the mix for tomorrow.

"We are heading in the right direction with the car, we are finding we can put it together a little bit better, there is still a long way to go but it is promising what we have seen so far this weekend.

"I think anything can happen in qualifying, we just need to keep our head down and deliver a great couple of laps and one great lap in Q3!"