Max Verstappen admits he and Red Bull have to limit retirements if he wants any chance of challenging Mercedes for the Formula 1 title.

This season, the Dutchman has already failed to finish on four occasions, though has stood on the podium each time he has seen the chequered flag.

Those retirements have seen Verstappen fall 35 points behind Valtteri Bottas in second, and a massive 120 behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

And looking forward, should Red Bull be in a place to go head-to-head with Mercedes, Max knows maximising every race is crucial.

“If you’re fighting for the championship these things can’t happen, I think we all know that. It’s been a bit unfortunate this season with that," he told Sky Sports.

“But what can you do about it? I think take some lessons and understand.

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“The tyre failure [at Imola] I don’t think there was anything we could do about that. Of course, the engine problems we had, I think already we took a lot of measures on that and learned a lot.

“But for sure in a championship season, you can’t have any [retirements]. Hopefully next year we will be in a position like that, but I still think it will be hard to beat Mercedes.”

Sitting third in the standings, some have speculated as to whether the retirements have left Verstappen frustrated to see another year pass by without a genuine championship bid.

“The retirements are not great but Mercedes are so dominant this season, so the most realistic place you are in is third all the time,” the 23-year-old replied. “We’ve basically done that, or even better in some races, so I can’t complain about that.

“You don’t want to be walking around frustrated trying to get results which are not possible, so that’s what I’m trying to do – just keep pushing myself and trying to get the best possible result that’s within the car.

“I know I can’t fight for the Championship this year in general, even though sometimes it looked like we were a bit closer.

“At Imola, finally I was a bit closer and could be within two-tenths of them, so then you are really motivated to stay with them and actually pass a car, whereas normally they are running away from me three or four-tenths a lap, so I’m a bit in no man’s land which is not what you want.

“I prefer to be the one having a nice romantic dinner instead of being the third wheel.”