Max Verstappen makes major Red Bull declaration with McLaren ‘concern’ raised

Max Verstappen punches the air in celebration after winning

Declaring Red Bull no longer has the fastest car on the grid, Max Verstappen says the team is operating “really well” but is “lacking” when it comes to outright pace.

Verstappen won Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, a victory he set up with a pass on early-race leader George Russell who then acted as a buffer behind himself and Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen won the Spanish GP by 2.2s ahead of Lando Norris

As the race’s strategy played out, and Norris ran longer than the Dutchman, the McLaren driver set himself up for the win – he only had to close an eight-second gap albeit on fresher tyres.

It was, however, too big a margin and Verstappen took the win – his seventh of this season – by two seconds ahead of Norris.

But even Verstappen admits that were it not for his early pass on Russell for the lead, his victory would’ve been a lot closer.

“Very happy because I think what made the race was getting the lead on lap 2 and basically, the first stint that’s where we won the race,” he told Sky F1.

“With the gap I had to Lando, basically since that first stint I have been driving a very aggressive defensive race.

“They were definitely a bit faster today, better on tyres as well. And that is of course a little bit concerning. That’s not what you like to see.

“But as a team, I think we operated really well, we maximised everything that we had.”

Declaring that it is “exciting” for the sport, he admits he wants “more performance because we are not the quickest at the moment.”

He added: “That’s why I have to push to the end.

“When I put myself in a position that we were comfortably ahead because if I didn’t get by Lando at the start I think we would have been second today.

“It’s fine margins that can decide the outcome of a race.”

In-depth dive into the Spanish Grand Prix

Spanish GP driver ratings: Rare Lewis Hamilton score, Perez and Sargeant flop

Spanish Grand Prix conclusions: Red Bull dominance over, Lando Norris transformed

“So far we’re doing everything well but at the end of the day to win races you need to be normally the fastest and I think that’s what has been lacking a little bit the fastest few races.”

Told that Horner blames the cost cap, he replied: “We have less time in the wind tunnels than the other teams but that’s the success penalty. That’s how it’s written.

“But I do think we need to just keep pushing ahead, we need to keep on trying to find more performance.

“I think if you look at our performance from last year to now, of course we improved but it seems like the others just improved even more. We just need to study a lot of things to try and be more competitive.”

Read next: Follow PlanetF1.com’s WhatsApp channel for all the F1 breaking news!