Lewis H꧟amilton topped the afternoon session ahead of Mercedes teammat🥂e Valtteri Bottas, with Verstappen just behind in third place.

Verstappe𒊎n enjoyed one of the most dominant weekends of his F🌜1 career to date last time out in the first race at the Red Bull Ring, winning by over 35 seconds.

Assessing his main rival’s performance on Friday, Verstappen is convinced 𒊎Mercedes has 🐼taken a step forward in performance.

“I think it will be tight,” Verstappen said. “They definitely have improved a bit. So yeah, we’ll see tomorrow in qualifying, but of course the most important thing is with these🔥 softer com🤪pounds to make them last in the race.

“So that’s also going to be a challenge.”

Verstappen felt Mercedes had the advantage on the softer🏅 tyre co🦄mpound, with Pirelli bringing the C5 - the softest in its range - to this weekend’s event.

The Dutchman was confident with how his Red Bul🦂l handled on the mediums and in race trim.

“They seem quite quick on that soft compound,” Verstappen added. “I think from our side, it wasn’t perfect on that r💯un. But nevertheless, I felt good in the car, everything felt quite good.

“There are no real problems, just need to make🦹 sure that we have a bit more pace on the soft because I think on the medium, we look good, and al🐎so in the long runs, we look decent. At the end of the day, that’s the most important.”

Verstappen holds an 18-point lead over H🌱amilton in the drivers' championship, while Red Bull is 40 points clear of Mercedes in the constructors'.