Button: 'Wouldn't say they are fourth tenths faster than Mercedes'

FP1 looked good for Verstappen, but Button doesn't think the gap to Mercedes is as big as the result shows. "Red Bull need to be competitive. Looking at the times, I wouldn't say they are fourth tenths faster than Mercedes," he told Sky Sports. "I really don't think they are."

The one-time world champion followed the W12 for a few laps and came to the following conclusion: "When watching the Mercedes on track, it looks really good. They just haven't quite got the balance together, they'll be right up there with Red Bull," Button said.

There is a suspicion that Mercedes is running with old engines. In Formula 1 this happens more often on Fridays, because if something happens to the engine then they can always switch to the fresh, better power unit. Moreover, this way of working saves kilometres, which means that from the moment that parc fermé applies they can drive with a higher engine level.