Red Bull: It was a calculated risk and we learned

The Dutchman's total included the third fastest time, 0.253 of a second behind day one pacesetter Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

A trouble-free morning saw Max get through 85 laps and he took up residency in third place on the timesheet with a lap run on Pirelli's medium tyres that left him just five-hundredths of a second behind early leader Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes who set his quickest lap on soft tyres. Bottas was shunted to P2 just before lunchtime by Vettel, who like Max, used the medium tyre for his run.

The productive work of the morning allowed the team to take what Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin later referred to as a calculated risk with some shakedown work. That resulted in a stoppage at around 4.30pm, with Max pulling over at the first corner.

The RB14 was recovered to the pits where the battery was changed and shortly before the end of the session Max returned to the action to top out his lap count at 130.

"It was a good day today. We did a lot of laps and that's really important, just to put mileage up on the car," said Max.

"We had a small problem with the battery late in the day, so we had to change that and it takes a bit of time, but afterwards it was all good."

Commenting on the battery problem, Roquelin said: "We got through something like 85 laps in the morning and everything was running very smoothly. We got a long way through the test programme in the morning, so we were able to try out some things in the afternoon. We took the decision to do some shakedown tests and the result was a small electrical problem."

"We lost an hour as a result as we had to change the battery but it was a calculated risk and we learned something as a result. In all, I'm pretty happy with the amount we got through today."

The session took place in much-improved conditions from last week but despite more representative running from the bulk of teams, Max was still cautious about what times reveal.

"Everyone, of course, wants to know where we think we are in relation to our opposition but honestly it's impossible to tell until we get to Australia, as you don't know what everyone else is doing," he said.

"In terms of where this car is improved over last year, again it's very difficult to say as the new surface here changes how you drive and that, together with the new tyres, makes it difficult to pinpoint any particular area."

"Also, with the first week not being that successful in terms of temperatures and so on, it's still all to be discovered. I know it feels faster though!" added Verstappen.