Max Verstappen believes he is in touch with Mercedes after a solid first day at the Tuscan Grand Prix.
As Formula 1 got to grips with Mugello for the first time, the Dutchman was encouraged to finish just a quarter of a second behind pacesetter Valtteri Bottas in the afternoon session.
Indeed, Verstappen is once again the only competition the German manufacturer is facing, with a gap of almost eight-tenths back to Red Bull teammate Alex Albon in fourth
"We can be pretty pleased with how the car is behaving and I think it was a good first day at Mugello,” he commented.
“We are not too far off Mercedes which is a good thing and also balance-wise, there are always things that can be improved, but overall I was pretty pleased."
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Like every driver to comment so far, Verstappen also spoke glowingly of the challenge presented around the sweeping, high-speed layout at Mugello.
"This is a very cool track to drive in an F1 car with so many fast corners and to be able to take Arrabbiata 1 and 2 flat out easily is quite incredible and really enjoyable to drive," he said.
“It is pretty physical and I felt alright today but of course 59 laps in a row in the heat is not going to be easy.
"I like a bit of a challenge and we shouldn’t complain as we train hard to sit in these cars and we should just enjoy it.
"The track is my type of track – really flowing with no slow corners, so I’m looking forward to doing more laps.
"In terms of tyres, I expected it to be worse so let’s see how they hold up over the rest of the weekend."
