Verstappen eyeing Red Bull improvements to break duck

Max Verstappen is eyeing improvements to his Red Bull over a single-lap heading into qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

After comfortably topping Free Practice 1 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Verstappen was only third fastest in the evening session, finishing behind both Fernando Alonso and George Russell.

On his first lap on the Soft tyres, Verstappen was over half-a-second down on Alonso's time and eventually finished 0.331s down on the Aston Martin, with Russell about a tenth ahead of the World Champion.

Verstappen is seeking a first pole position in Jeddah having crashed in 2021, before losing out to Charles Leclerc in 2022 before suffering a drive-shaft failure in Q2 last year that left him 15th on the grid, and feels work must done.

"It went quite well in general," Verstappen explained after Free Practice 2.

"They prepared the track quite well because it was not really dirty. The speed was quite good and overall we learned a lot.

"There are always things that can be improved, such as the speed over one lap.

"Also I think the others used a bit more power, like in Bahrain, but I'm quite satisfied with the long runs.

"Others might be a little stronger over one lap, but our car really comes alive on the long run."