Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he hopes the rain forecast for Saturday in Melbourne comes to fruition, having finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton on Friday.
Hamilton led the way during both practice sessions in warm and sunny conditions on Friday, as Verstappen emerged as his closest rival, 0.127s in arrears.
Verstappen, though, believes his prospects of challenging for pole position will be best served by wet weather striking the circuit in qualifying; rain is currently forecast for portions of Saturday.
“For me this has been a positive start to the weekend so I am really happy about that,” he said.
“The car has behaved well on this track which is always pleasing after only running in Barcelona to date.
“Race pace looks good, I think there is definitely some room for improvement and Mercedes look pretty strong, but I’m not concerned with how it looks at the moment.
“A little bit of rain over the rest of the weekend would help us out.
“Being wet means performance is less engine dependent and makes the power tricky to control. Our car is usually strong in the wet and I enjoy myself so fingers crossed we get some rain”
Verstappen was nonetheless reluctant to predict the current pecking order based on the opening pair of practice sessions.
“Of course we have only done two practice sessions so it is still hard to see who is strongest and how we will finish come race day,” he said.
“It is a bit of a guess when you come to the first circuit of the season. It takes at least two or three Grand Prix to understand what is going on, it then also depends on everyone’s development rate throughout the year.”
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