Max Verstappen says Red Bull are ‘a tiny bit’ off ‘very strong’ Ferrari at Australian Grand Prix

Ferrari and Red Bull remain the pace setters after the two Friday practice sessions

Verstappen remains confident ahead of qualifying on Saturday (Getty Images)

Max Verstappen is happy with Red Bull’s progress after the opening two practice sessions at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

The defending world champion posted the second fastest time in FP2, two tenths off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Much like the first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the Scuderia and Red Bull remain the teams to beat. Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz finished third, with Verstappen’s partner Sergio Perez in fifth behind Fernando Alonso.

And while they still have some work to do if they are going to close the gap to Ferrari, Verstappen is content with the pace they have shown in Melbourne so far.

Speaking on Friday, he said: “FP1 and the beginning of FP2 we were lacking a bit of balance, then for the final run we changed the car around a bit and I felt a lot happier.

“I had a car in front of me in my final lap so that didn’t help. We are a tiny bit off Ferrari, but I think over the weekend we will maybe make it a bit closer. You never know for tomorrow but so far they seem again very strong.

“We still have a bit of work to do but we are more or less there. In the long run everything looked quite stable and quite nice, so I am happy about that so we definitely made some good improvements today.

“We are in a good direction and we have to build from there and hopefully we can make some tiny adjustments also for tomorrow.”

Leclerc won the opening race of the season in Bahrain, before finishing second behind Verstappen in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Mercedes’ problems have continued to persist in Melbourne following a difficult Friday. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished 11th and 13th ahead of the third and final practice session on Saturday.