Max Verstappen was upbeat after setting the pace in Friday's Styrian Grand Prix FP2 session, believing Red Bull's RB16 was performing much better than at the same point last week in Austria.
Verstappen clocked in with the fastest lap in FP2, and although the Dutchman held just a marginal 0.043s lead over Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas at the end of the session, the Red Bull charger felt the team was in a better place at the Red Bull Ring compared to last week.
"We had much better feelings than last Friday," Verstappen said. "We learned more about the car.
"We weren't so happy last week, that's why we tried to fix some things. So far, it's much better. The direction we took seems to be the right one".
Verstappen needs to play catch up with his Mercedes rivals on Sunday after his early retirement in the Austrian Grand Prix.
But the 22-year-old isn't sure he'll have the "right package" to erase last weekend's disappointment and outpace Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.
"I don't know if we have the right package to win the race, we'll find out on Sunday," Verstappen said.
"Normally our race pace is more competitive but already over one lap we can’t complain and actually the 11 laps I did in last week’s race didn’t look too bad, so it can only get better.
"Even if tomorrow the weather is too bad for qualifying I expect we will still have Sunday morning to do it, so I don’t expect to be on pole position with this lap."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
