Max Verstappen feels Red Bull Racing still have a lot of work to do in order to take the fight to the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace this weekend, particularly if they want to be in the fight for pole position on Saturday.
The Dutchman, who comes to Brazil on the back of his most dominant Grand Prix victory to date last time out in Mexico City, said that despite having an ‘ok’ day on Friday, the pace of Mercedes looks ominous, and the knowledge that they are likely to turn the wick up on their engine for qualifying means Red Bull need to find a significant amount of pace to be at the front of the grid themselves.
“My Friday has been ok,” said Verstappen. “It could have been a bit better and we still need to improve the balance, but in general it was a decent practice day.
“I was struggling for grip this morning and we managed to improve that a bit this afternoon but there is still more work to be done. On the short run it was not ideal on the Supersoft but we are not too far off on the long runs.
“Of course I always want to go faster and Mercedes are quicker than us at the moment. We need to make improvements before tomorrow because we know that in Qualifying they will step up their engine.
“I think we need to be at least the same speed or faster than Mercedes in the final practice to have a chance of getting on the front row of the grid.”
