Verstappen and Red Bull 'getting up to speed' at 'challenging' Madring

Max Verstappen admits that Red Bull are still "getting up to speed" ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, as drivers and teams tackled the Madring for the first time.

Friday provided the first running for teams and drivers at Formula 1's newest venue, with the high-speed street circuit offering a challenge across the day.

Verstappen finished P5 and P6 across the two, one-hour sessions, but was closer to pacesetter Kimi Antonelli in the latter, as the Dutchman finished just four tenths behind.

"Not too bad. Just trying to find a little bit more pace over one lap," said Verstappen when asked on his thoughts from the first day of running.

"Trying to understand the tyres a little bit more in the long run. Just getting up to speed a bit more, lap after lap.

"There's always little things in a practice session you want to work and improve on. That's what we'll try to do for tomorrow and we'll see where we end up."

When asked how important a clean Free Practice 3 session would be on Saturday ahead of Qualifying, Verstappen added: "It will always help if you have a clean one compared to a messy one, but we'll see if we can find a little bit more performance in the car."

Team mate Liam Lawson, still in place for the injured Isack Hadjar, finished both sessions in P10 as Red Bull tried to get on top of the circuit's bumps.

"Is more bumpy than what we thought, high speed corners, Turn 10, 11, 12," said Red Bull's Technical Director, Pierre Wache, who believes the team are still in contention at this early stage.

"It is quite a challenge there for the ride. Energy management is tricky also. I'm not a driver but it's quite challenging.

"Was quite a smooth session. More I would like to be, like a normal Friday. Now we have to improve the car but not completely out is some positive, after we are not completely out [of contention], we know that.

"Some traffic in [the] long run, but the long run was quite competitive to be honest. I think our tyre management, we are quite good."