Verstappen: ‘Mercedes still looks too far ahead’

Red Bull F1 ace Max Verstappen thinks “Mercedes still looks too far ahead” despite finishing 0.096s behind Lewis Hamilton in the opening practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

After coming a close second to the Briton in FP1, the Dutchman was only sixth and nearly seventh tenths off Hamilton’s pace in the afternoon session.

“I think first practice was actually pretty good,” Verstappen said. “We made some changes for the second practice.

“The short run was not fantastic, but we managed to turn it around again for the long run, that all looked really good. Mercedes still looks too far ahead but then after them we are there.”

Red Bull slipped behind Williams in FP2, which came as a slight surprise given the fact that the Grove-based outfit has been usually quiet performance-wise on Fridays.

Verstappen remains confident his team can emerge as the second best over the weekend and even challenge at the front if there are wet conditions on Sunday.

“For sure, the times dropped [in FP2] and then we didn’t make the correct changes to the car.” the 19-year-old added.

“But that can happen, that’s what we have practice for. We managed to turn it around and then in the long run it was good again.

“We are still not close enough to [Mercedes] but, as I think it will rain on Sunday and that should bring some excitement.”

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