Verstappen: Never know what people find overnight

After topping the timesheets at the end of FP2 at Paul Ricard, Verstappen said in the team report: "Overall it’s been a good end to the day and we improved quite well. I wasn’t entirely happy in FP1 and even at the start of FP2 but on the second set of tyres this afternoon the car felt a lot better and a lot more connected.

"It’s still really difficult around here as the track is so open and it’s quite windy which means it isn’t always easy to nail the lap. The wind is also quite gusty so one lap it feels alright and the next lap it can increase, which means it’s not always easy to judge your mid-corner speeds, but everyone has to deal with the same thing."

The gap to second-placed Valtteri Bottas was a tiny 0.008s, but a quarter of a second up on title rival Lewis Hamilton. Who has more for when it matters will only be revealed at the end of Q3 and for now, Verstappen is favourite for pole whether he likes it or not.

"It’s difficult to say where we will be [in qualifying] and you never know what people find overnight but the long runs also seemed decent so for sure I expect it to be very tight and it definitely won’t be easy," predicted the Dutch driver.

Sergio Perez ended the day over a second down on his teammate's best effort, however, there was no sense of doom in his post-practice feedback: "I got a pretty bad run of traffic today so it probably looks worse than it actually is on the timesheets.

"We look to be there or thereabouts and Max had a good day on pace. We tried some changes during the sessions and so tonight we’ll look at them to see what worked and hopefully we can find some pace overnight so we are right in the mix tomorrow.

"Coming from Baku, obviously this is a very different track but we’re continuing the good momentum, the understanding of the car is getting better and there are plenty of positives to take from today," added the Mexican veteran who will nevertheless have to find a chunk of time on Saturday to fling himself into the mix at the sharp end. (Additional reporting by Agnes Carlier)