Verstappen denounces Hamilton: 'It's not the first time'

Verstappen could be heard over the team radio several times during the practice sessions. And these were not positive messages. "Difficult day, just difficult to get a good balance and just not really feeling comfortable in the car, moving around a lot, it's very easy to lose the car."

So, work to do for the reigning world champions. "A few things that we have to look at because today, yes, it was bad. This is just not comfortable. Also, the long run was really bad. So yes, definitely a few things that we have to improve if we want to be competitive tomorrow," Verstappen said clearly.

When Verstappen was doing a fast lap on softs, he was hindered by Hamilton. He moved in front of the Mercedes after the incident. "It's just not the first time. You try to of course always stay calm about it, but yes, it happened again at the other end also. I don't want to really talk about it too much because that's not our issue."

Is he confident Red Bull can turn the tide on Saturday and Sunday? "So we'll look at a few things that we can do better for tomorrow. But yes, it looks a bit like the others took a bit of a step forward. And from our side just a bad day."