Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has ruled out either himself or team-mate Daniel Ricciardo mounting a title challenge this season, despite recent victories for the Milton Keynes outfit.
Verstappen won in Austria last weekend and has stood on the podium in four of the last five races to close the gap to the leaders to 53 points, whilst Ricciardo already has two wins this year and sits 50 points adrift of leader Sebastian Vettel.
Verstappen has outscored Vettel by eight points in the last three events, however he doesn't believe Red Bull can sustain its current strong form at every circuit and has therefore ruled out closing that gap completely come the end of the season.
"We don’t have the package to fight on every track," said the Dutchhman. "For example in Monza it’s just going to be difficult so it depends in what position you are.
"If it’s compared to your team-mate then I think you still have a chance to come back but I don’t think we are in a position to do that [challenge for the title].
"For sure, there are some tracks where we will be really competitive and we can definitely challenge for victory but not on every single track so to come back like that, you need to be winning almost every weekend."
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton however says it can't be ruled out entirely, referring to his comeback in 2016 when he had a 43-point deficit but later took the lead of the standings against Nico Rosberg, before dropping behind again later in the season to eventually finish five points behind.
"I’ve been 40-something down in the past. I’m pretty sure in Barcelona at one stage I was 40-something down. It is possible, it can swing around."
Discussion about this post