Max Verstappen admits Red Bull has work to do on the soft compound tyre after a mixed day of practice in Bahrain.
The Dutchman ended the evening session sixth fastest overall, putting him behind the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg unexpectedly.
While there is likely quite a few tenths still be unleashed, Verstappen admits the pace set by the leading Ferrari is particularly daunting.
“Well, I would say Ferrari is ahead of the others,” he said after practice. “I don’t know what went wrong in Melbourne but now they are very competitive again.
“That is what we expected and we’ll try to close that gap.
“In the second session especially on the medium tyre we were really competitive and I should have been faster but out of the final corner, I had a little issue so I lost a few tenths there.”
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It is the C3 compound that is flummoxing Red Bull, however, as it appears particularly sensitive to temperatures which are often hard to control in Bahrain.
“It has been OK but there is still quite a bit of work to do. I am still not happy with how the car is behaving,” he explained. “We will look into the data tonight to see what we can improve.
“On the softest tyre I didn’t feel the grip, but on the long runs we were quite competitive on the medium tyre, I think that will be the most dominant tyre, so let’s see.”
