Max Verstappen highlights ‘clear’ gap from Red Bull to title rivals

Max Verstappen said it was “clear” Red Bull was still behind Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren after he finished P4 in Barcelona.

The Dutchman was an unusually anonymous presence in the Catalunya race as he was not quick enough to attack the five cars in front but had enough pace to keep those behind at arm’s length.

Max Verstappen reacts to Barcelona GP

Despite the FIA reportedly deeming Red Bull’s ICE to be the best on the grid, their battery and aero package is lacking compared to their immediate rivals with Verstappen rarely troubling the top row during qualifying.

He has two P2s on his qualifying record this season and a P3 in Canada represents his only podium of the season. Meanwhile this time last year, Verstappen had just won his second race of the campaign.

Red Bull did bring two upgrades to the RB22 for the Spanish race, both to the front wing, but rivals such as Ferrari brought far more substantial packages.

Having finished fourth due to the retirements of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc, Verstappen said it was “clear” Red Bull was still off the pace.

“It’s clear that we’re still behind Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren,” he said in Barcelona. “Because I basically finished behind each one of them.

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“So we’re still, I think, P4 as a team, maybe a little bit better, but it’s still not where, of course, we want to be. It’s a work in progress. I hope very soon that we can pick up a little bit more in performance.

“In general it’s just bringing more upgrades and better performance which is what we are working on.

“Whoever brings upgrades will make a jump. It just depends who is bringing always the biggest one.”

Team principal Laurent Mekies said the Barcelona race was a “reality check”.

“I think we were expecting that reality check in Barcelona,” he said. “First track with a long straight, the mid-speed, high-speed corners. It’s probably the first time after China, Japan, where we come back to this sort of track.

“So we are expecting certainly a different performance compared to Monaco, where we could suddenly fight for pole.

“I think this weekend confirms, because what we are talking about is three or four tenths from pole, or three or four tenths from what you need to do to fight for the win, and that was certainly a very different picture at the beginning of the year on this sort of track.

“There is still a gap, no doubt, PU side, chassis side, and you know that’s what we need to fight for next.

“It’s not about one single thing anymore, it’s about finding a little bit of performance in a mid-speed corner, in high speed corner, on the straight line.”

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