Max Verstappen called for Red Bull and Honda to find more performance after a lonely drive to fourth at Paul Ricard.
The Dutchman had one attack on Charles Leclerc between Turns 2 and 3 on the opening lap but after that, quickly found himself defending from the McLarens on the Mistral Straight.
Quickly that threat would fade, and with Sebastian Vettel delayed by passing the papaya machines, it left Max in no-mans land for much of the race.
“You have to keep on pushing. You try to push yourself, I still want to see how fast we can go,” Verstappen said post-race.
“At one point in the second stint we were looking quite good, but with six or seven laps to go, I ran out of rear grip so I decided to bring it home.
“To be in front of one Ferrari is a good result for us.”
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This season’s RB15 has become one of Red Bull’s least spectacular cars as it gives a solid base but nothing much more.
Even the in-season development that the team is famous for hasn’t really kicked in, and that is frustrating Verstappen.
“Of course there are limitations and you have to drive around it, every driver would like more grip, but for us, at the moment, it is not only grip, but also top speed as you could see in the first lap.
“It was very hard to defend, but also to attack because we had a good start, but then three cars just come by.
“We have to work on both sides to make a step up.”