Max Verstappen called time on his Friday running in Sao Paulo earlier than planned, but Red Bull emerged from the opening day of practice convinced that its RB22 still has plenty to offer.
The Dutchman ended both sessions third fastest, consistently hovering around two and a half tenths off the pace, and while his afternoon programme was cut short, and Isack Hadjar was only ninth in FP2, the team insists there is no reason to doubt its competitive prospects.
With Verstappen having won three of the last four Grands Prix, Red Bull arrived at Interlagos expecting to be firmly in the mix. Friday provided encouraging indications, even if the four-time world champion was not entirely spared the usual frustrations behind the wheel.
His first session included the familiar complaints about downshifting, while a power-steering issue towards the closing stages gave him what amounted to a physical workout.
Cutting the afternoon short was a calculated decision
With just over six minutes remaining in FP2, Verstappen requested permission to return to the pits.
Race engineer Tom Hart's response suggested the decision was entirely the driver's, with the team subsequently confirming that continuing the programme would have served little purpose.
Red Bull's head of race strategy Hannah Schmitz explained that the team had encountered inconsistencies during its longer runs, making the remaining track time less valuable than anticipated.
"So it was just [because of] finding a lot of inconsistencies in the long run and we didn't feel like it was helpful anymore,” Schmitz explained.
"We weren't getting the data we needed. We knew the things that we wanted to be looking at and changing overnight, so we just went straight into that."
The decision was nevertheless an interesting one, not least because it meant Verstappen forfeited the opportunity to practise a race start on Interlagos' notoriously steep uphill grid.
Given Red Bull's occasional struggles with launching its cars this season, that was a potentially valuable exercise to sacrifice.
Instead, mechanics were subsequently spotted working underneath the RB22, as the team turned its attention towards addressing the issues identified during the day's running.
Confidence remains high despite changing conditions
Crucially, Red Bull does not believe Friday's difficulties have exposed any fundamental weakness in its package. Schmitz suggested that both Verstappen and team-mate Isack Hadjar had identified specific areas requiring attention, but viewed that knowledge as a positive rather than a cause for concern.
"I think everyone agrees that there's a lot of potential within the car, but with both drivers there are things that they want to look into and change overnight,” she said.
“But in a way that's a good thing because that means we know what's happening on the car and what we can address.
"There's a lot of potential and optimism for the rest of the weekend."
That confidence will be tested by the unpredictable Brazilian weather, however. Red Bull's Friday programme included running on all three tyre compounds, with the team attempting to establish their respective characteristics ahead of Sunday's race.
But the conditions encountered on Friday may offer only limited guidance if temperatures shift or rain arrives over the weekend.
Schmitz acknowledged that selecting the appropriate compounds had already presented teams with something of a dilemma.
"I think it was a very close call on which sessions you ran the hard and which session you ran the medium today", Schmitz said.
"I think all of the top teams kind of tested all three compounds because they are so similar.
São Paulo Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 Results
"It comes down a lot to driver preference, team tendency and preference, and those are the kind of things we're trying to get to the bottom of.
"Today, obviously the conditions are quite different to what's forecast for Sunday, so now we have to look at how we think that's going to translate to what happens on Sunday. And I think that's the difficult thing."
For now, the stopwatch offers Red Bull plenty of encouragement. Verstappen was consistently within striking distance of the benchmark in both sessions, and the team believes it has a clear enough picture of what needs improving.
His abbreviated FP2 may have left a few questions unanswered, but Red Bull's conviction is that the RB22 has considerably more to give. The priority now is making sure that potential translates into performance when it matters.
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