Max Verstappen has declared catching up to Mercedes as the single goal for himself and Red Bull for the rest of 2019.
The Dutchman has enjoyed a strong season but his results have been limited by the performance of the RB15, which has often meant fighting for the final spot on the podium.
In recent races, however, a breakthrough with the front wing has opened the way for Red Bull to show the kind of in-season development they are known for and Verstappen has called on the team to deliver it.
“Closing the gap to Mercedes, that is the biggest one I think,” he said on Thursday at Hockenheim of his target between now and Abu Dhabi.
“We want to win so that is our biggest challenge ahead, to try to close that gap. It is further than I would like. We are getting closer but it is still not good enough, we know that. We are working hard to try to close it.”
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Verstappen is the only driver not in a Mercedes to have won this season, doing so in Austria, and the progress made has likely put Red Bull ahead of the Ferrari in the pecking order.
“At the end of the day, second is always better than third, but we are here to win,” Verstappen insisted. “Of course we want to be in front of Ferrari, but we want to be there with Mercedes.
“This year, we are trying to get the most out of the engine as well and learn from what we did wrong at the beginning of the season, or not as good compared to Mercedes and Ferrari. Hopefully next year we can fight for the wins all the time.”
Focusing on this weekend’s German Grand Prix, Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe also painted an optimistic picture.
“Hockenheim is one of the classic old tracks on the calendar and can be considered a power circuit because of the long straights in the first half of the lap,” he explained.
“Therefore, in terms of the demands it places on the PU, it has some similarities with the last round at Silverstone because much of the lap is at full throttle.
“That is encouraging, as we performed well there, therefore we will be working hard to try and secure another good result this weekend.”