Max Verstappen has suggested Red Bull has a much greater chance of catching Ferrari than Mercedes this season, despite the close battle between those two teams.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit has consistently been the third best team at almost every race this year but in recent races, the Dutchman’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo has taken advantage of improving pace to finish third in Spain, Monaco and Canada before taking an unlikely victory last time out in Baku.
Asked in Thursday’s press conference, ahead of Red Bull’s home race in Austria, whether he thought the recent upgrades had brought the RB13 at least chassis-wise on a par with the top two, Verstappen responded: “I think it’s always difficult to say. “I think Mercedes
“I think Mercedes is still ahead, that’s one thing. With Ferrari, it’s a bit complicated to judge that because in Baku definitely, we were ahead, but we have to wait here and see.
“We need a few races to see where you are and the [other] teams are not standing still. It’s a development process, and we definitely are doing a good job in that but we still need to improve so we need to work harder than the others definitely to catch up to Mercedes.”
Results at the Red Bull Ring, the modern incarnation of the former Osterreichring, haven’t always been great for the home team, with second place for Verstappen and fifth for Ricciardo easily the best they have achieved since the race returned to the calendar in 2014.
Considering realistic goals for this year, the 19-year-old, who will simply want to finish after four retirements in six races, conceded the same fifth and sixth they have occupied for the majority of this year seems most likely.
“On Sunday, even on Saturdays I think we should be around that position,” he claimed.
“As I said, we are getting closer but we are not in the fight yet to really beat them. In Baku, I was stuck behind Perez, but I think we were faster than the Ferraris but Mercedes are still on another level.”
Adding his opinion, Ricciardo, who turned 28 at the beginning of this month, admits the characteristics of the Red Bull Ring are likely to suit their main rivals.
“We will see, hopefully at least fifth but ideally, we can get closer,” he commented.
“We are getting stronger, but this track is not our worst, not our best, Max had a podium here last year, so maybe we can do okay. But Mercedes and Ferrari will still be quite quick here, particularly Mercedes. They normally are quick here and they were quick in Baku.
“They still have an extra setting it seems than everyone else. Here the first sector is more or less all horsepower, so they will make enough step there, even if we can match them in the second and third sector they are still going to be quite strong.”