Horner surprised at Mercedes: 'We haven't seen that in years'.

Red Bull Racing will be looking to maintain its lead in the world championship at the French Grand Prix. The Austrian team will not have an easy time of it though, with Mercedes doing well in the first two free practice sessions.

Verstappen set the third fastest time in the morning session, just behind Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. "During lunch I changed the set-up," Christian Horner explained to Sky Sports during the second free practice session. "Max sounds a bit happier with the car, but it's still very tight. You see Lewis driving purple in the middle sector. This sector seems to be Mercedes' sector today."

"I was surprised that Mercedes changed engines so early," continued the Red Bull Racing team boss. "We haven't seen that in recent years, usually they have lasted the longest. Maybe they have a bit more degradation than they expected. I don't know, we are driving according to our plan. The hardest thing to predict is how many races we will have in the season. There are some bumps at the end of the year."

Verstappen then went on to top the timing sheet in FP2.

Not only are Red Bull on top in the Drivers' Championship, but the team has also scored the most points in the Constructors' Championship so far. The Austrians are 26 points ahead of Mercedes in this respect.