Max Verstappen admits that Red Bull has a lot of catching up to do after it became clear in Australia that the team lags behind Ferrari and Mercedes.
The Dutchman could manage only fifth place in the opening race, while teammate Daniel Ricciardo retired. However, the team is well clear of the rest of the opposition.
“For sure we have to improve, but that’s how it is at the moment,” said Verstappen. “We are definitely working hard to get new parts to the car as soon and try to just get the pace up a bit and be closer to the top two teams, because behind us is at the moment quite a big gap, as you could see. I think I could have done two pit stops in Melbourne and still have had the same position. We’ll see, on a normal racetrack here in Shanghai.
“We can just improve the general balance. I mean, I think in qualifying everything felt pretty good but it’s just we need more load. A bit more grip, we need more power. And it’s a bit of both – you try to make an efficient car on the straights to make up for the loss of power there. Now we just have to focus on, first, getting the car in the right window and then hopefully we get the right upgrades from the engine side as well.”
Asked how long it would take for Red Bull to make a step, he said: “It’s a bit difficult to say really. It’s quite a big gap, but I’m quite confident that we can definitely close it in the upcoming races to within a second and then we’ll see when we get the bigger upgrades also from the engine side.”
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