Max Verstappen is hoping to challenge Ferrari for the final podium place at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.

 The Dutchman was able to split the two Prancing Horse's to take fourth on the grid in qualifying, this after Charles Leclerc's pace had been compromised in Q2.

With the RB15 looking particularly strong in the final sector, where the Scuderia is struggling the most, Verstappen does think there is potential to capitalise further.

"I think we have a realistic chance of fighting with Ferrari, we are quite close," he told Sky Sports.

"Mercedes is a different story, especially Valtteri [Bottas] it seems like he's flying this weekend, so I'm not really targeting that, but you never know.

"I'm normally a bit more confident in the race that our car is in a better window."

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While it is positive for Red Bull to be keeping Ferrari very honest, Verstappen admits he is frustrated that there was still a one-second gap between himself and the pole time.

"It's alright, but if you compare it to Mercedes, of course, we are lacking quite a bit," he continued.

"So I think we are not where we want to be and we can be very honest about that.

"I am not here to qualify fourth. Of course, I'm happy to be between the Ferrari cars but I think as a team we want to challenge the number one and that is Mercedes."

To that end, Max was asked if he was disappointed by the upgrades Red Bull had brought to Barcelona.

"Not really, in qualifying my balance was not bad but clearly, we are lacking pace," he replied.