Finding a remedy to the team's situation, where it seemed to struggle for a cadence over the kerbs and through the second sector of the Imola circuit, was going to test the team's usual overnight work heading into Saturday. Both the trackside and factory divisions at Red Bull had to get their hands dirty to decipher the root cause of Verstappen and Sergio Perez's problems throughout Friday, burning the midnight oil to find something that would rescue its weekend.
McLaren and Ferrari were both ahead of Red Bull in the one-lap pace stakes on Friday. On the hard tyre, Mercedes even looked to be a threat on the FP2 long runs versus the medium-shod RB20s.
