Max Verstappen says he did not do a qualifying simulation run in second practice due to concerns over potential rain.
The Red Bull driver was quickest in the first practice session, during which he only ran the soft tyres. He set the pace initially in the second session on medium rubber but did not join his rivals in switching to the soft compound.Verstappen therefore fell to fourth place in second practice. Team mate Isack Hadjar, on soft tyres, was less than a tenth of a second slower than pace-setter Charles Leclerc.
The four-times world champion said he avoided using the softs because “I wanted to do a long run in case there was some rain coming in.”
Red Bull’s strong form in the opening practice sessions in Malaysia comes after the team scored its best result of the season so far last weekend. “I think we had a decent start,” said Verstappen.
“It’s a tricky track, it’s really hot, there’s a lot of degradation so a lot of things to figure out but it has been a positive.”
Oscar Piastri took note of Red Bull’s pace in practice but is also waiting to see what the upgraded Mercedes can do.
“I think it looks pretty close amongst the top four teams,” he said. “I think Red Bull have looked very strong through the day. I think Mercedes as well have looked strong at points and obviously Ferrari were pretty good then.
“Everyone’s kind of had their turn being reasonably competitive. I think we’re maybe a tiny step behind, but we made a lot of progress from FP1. So hopefully we can keep that trend going and we’ll see where we end up.”
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