Though Charles Leclerc topped the second session, both Red Bull drivers were satisfied with their pace after the opening day at the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez was second to Leclerc, having topped Free Practice 1, while Max Verstappen was third best after the second 60-minute outing.
However, the pair reason that a combination of set-up experiments and yellow flags prevented them from going faster.
“It was a good start to the day but the second session didn’t go as well as we would have liked,” Perez explained.
“We explored some things this afternoon and the results we wanted didn’t come but we have collected good data with both tyres, as well as on the long runs.
“Initially the long run data looks good for the race but there are a lot of details we need to look into more.”
Verstappen logged a best time of 1:43.580s, just over a tenth down on his team-mate and more than three tenths down on Leclerc in Free Practice 2.
He looked set to improve on that effort but for a yellow flag, caused by Perez who ran long at Turn 15, while on his flying lap.
That followed an opening hour in which he was blighted by an oscillating flap on his rear wing when DRS was opened.
To resolve that, the team switched him to the same specification wing as Perez for the second session.
“I was a bit unlucky with my soft tyre runs in FP1 and FP2, there were a few yellow flags so I had to back out,” Verstappen explained.
“It seems like Ferrari is quite quick over one lap again, the long runs look a bit more even so that’s positive.
“The tyres seem to be working well after one lap which is good for a street circuit.
“We tried to fix the DRS after FP1, it seemed to be alright in FP2.
“My long runs went well, I did a grand total of three laps!
“We should have enough info now to know how to play it with tyres this weekend.”
Practice continues with a third and final hour on Saturday, starting at 21:00 AEST.
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