While all the hype ahead of Formula 1's Japanese Grand Prix was on Red Bull, it was its sister team Racing Bulls that grabbed the attention after Friday practice when it emerged as McLaren’s closest challenger.
A stunning lap from rookie Isack Hadjar during one of the short soft-tyre bursts of activity put him third quickest on the timesheets – 0.404s behind pacesetter Oscar Piastri.
But it was far from being the case of a simple flash-in-the-pan one-lap wonder, as Hadjar's team-mate Liam Lawson ended up fifth quickest, just four hundredths further back.
It was a stark comparison from where Red Bull’s duo ended up. Max Verstappen finished the afternoon in eighth, with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda down in 18th.
But appearances can be deceptive at times in F1 and, while it was certainly an encouraging day for Racing Bulls in getting its car into a nice set-up window, it was equally well aware that there was no reason to get too carried away with the results.
For a start, the final position in the rankings flattered an awful lot on a tricky day – especially considering how close things were behind McLaren.
Hadjar’s laptime of a 1m28.518s may have put him third quickest, but just one tenth of a second covered him and Charles Leclerc down in seventh place.
So fine margins were at play on a day of gusty weather conditions and a stop-start session where some drivers maximised their quick laps and others did not. The multiple red flags meant we only got a small snapshot of where things ultimately stand.
Had the session run uninterrupted to its full length (less than half of FP2's scheduled one hour took place under green flag conditions), then there is a high likelihood that things would have shaken out differently.
Certainly team boss Laurent Mekies was keeping his feet on the ground about a day where things looked far more impressive just glancing at the timesheets than he felt they were.
“I don't think we should read too much into today's lap times,” he said. “There were four red flags, so we don't get too excited about the classification.”
There were also some other factors that played into Racing Bulls' hands.
The difficult conditions caused by the gusts of winds, with a tailwind into Turn 1, meant that cars which are more nervous on the edge left their drivers needing to exercise a bit more caution than those who enjoy more comfortable surroundings.
A driver-friendly car
Based on observations of the VCARB02 on track so far this year, it appears to be quite a benign car that helps give its drivers more confidence to take things to the limit.
This has come after a winter where the squad has worked hard to overcome the inconsistencies of last season – where the team was a bit too up and down.
Speaking in China, Tsunoda had openly talked about how the Racing Bulls’ characteristics were such this year that it allowed its drivers to attack more.
“It has a strong front end, but also through-corner balance is much more together compared to last year,” he said.
“Last year was a bit more of a struggle with rear instability. The people at the factory made a huge step to sort it out and it feels like overall it’s a better car.”
Back up this car characteristic with a set-up approach that the team has tailored specifically around rookies, so is not too on edge even if that sacrifices a tiny bit of overall performance, then it all contributes to a platform that is allowing its youngsters to shine in the right circumstances.
And that is especially true on days like Friday when, at a track that requires great commitment, others were having to rein things back a little bit because the wind was unsettling them.
The more solid platform that Hadjar and Lawson have underneath them meant they probably lost a little bit less relative to the others.
There is no feeling within Racing Bulls that what was seen on Friday will automatically roll over into the remainder of the Japan weekend.
Mekies is very aware that completely different conditions tomorrow, especially with the wind switching direction completely, will likely reset things - even if it has been a positive start.
“It sounds like quite a boring element, but tomorrow it is forecast the wind will turn 180 degrees, so in the exact opposite direction,” he said.
“It can mean quite a few changes are needed on the set-up to give an optimum balance, and it's something we will work on overnight and need to take into consideration. But the important thing is we have got the baseline for our car.”
