Max Verstappen is sticking to reality on what can happen with Red Bull’s car for the rest of the season.
He hopes they will have a solution to the engine reliability issues soon, but is not confidence their pace will keep up with the other teams’ development.
“For us, on tracks with not too many straights I think we are reasonably close, so I think [Red Bull is] around three-tenths [down], more or less,” Verstappen told a sports website.
“But then of course when you get a few straights in the track I think we’re a bit further away.
“I don’t know what to expect for the upcoming races but of course it will be quite tough for us to really compete against them.
“I expect in Spa Mercedes will be again very strong because in general, their power unit is still the best in the whole field, but it’s very close [between Mercedes and Ferrari].”
Verstappen acknowledges they [Red Bull] are focussed on developing the 2017 car for the rest of the season.
He said: “We’ll keep developing, but the other teams do [as well]; we have to make sure that we do it a little faster and of course better.
“I think from the engine side there is not much coming compared to the other teams where there is still development on both sides [chassis and engine].
“So we have to make sure our car is definitely going in the right direction.”
