Max Verstappen's car overhauled by Red Bull

Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache has detailed that the squad made significant changes to Max Verstappen's car on Friday at the Madring.

F1 teams faced the brand-new circuit in Spain for the first time yesterday with the circuit playing host to two practice sessions.

Red Bull entered the weekend hoping to take advantage of the blank sheet that the squads are working from, with no historic data to base the setup on.

However, it was Mercedes and Ferrari who impressed at the front of the field, with Verstappen consolidating sixth at the end of FP2, four-tenths down on the fastest lap.

Wache highlighted the significant challenge the team faced by making major changes during the day to Verstappen's car - and admitted more modifications are likely ahead of final practice on Saturday.

“We did quite a lot of changes between FP1 and FP2 already,” Wache said.

“I think we will continue to explore some routes, and we will do more for FP3.”

Red Bull has 'a lot of work to do' ahead of Madrid qualfiying

Verstappen identified tyre wear and long-run pace as the main areas that Red Bull needed to address overnight as it prepares to lock in its setup for qualifying and the race.

Wache insisted there is no panic within the team after the opening day, having made progress with the car between FP1 and FP2.

“It's better to not be happy on Friday, and there's a lot of work to do on car setup, for sure,” he said.

“Mechanical grip, the ride is more challenging than what we thought; it is not as smooth. 

“And on energy deployment, it's clear that we have a lot of work to do there also. 

“The tyre grain is more than maybe as expected. But in FP2, we were a little bit better than FP1, and I think we have to continue in this route.”