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Max Verstappen has said that Red Bull's pace has not been good enough over the course of the weekend, and lining up in P5 was the best he could do.
Red Bull was predicted to be the closest challengers to Mercedes during the four long months of winter, however it now appears that Ferrari is the team with the pace, with Red Bull slacking behind.
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"Of course it was not good enough but after a troubled weekend, basically I saw it coming after winter testing, this is the best we could do," Verstappen told Sky F1.
"We have a tricky balance on the car. All the time when we were changing something it was changing quite a lot, in terms of oversteer or understeer, and basically not having the pace. We are still down on power but also, in terms of grip level and things, we are not on the same level compared to Ferrari and Mercedes yet.
"Our best hope tomorrow is a clean start because we don't have the pace to challenge the Ferraris and Mercedes. I'm realistic. So probably a very lonely race as behind me there is also quite a big [pace] gap."
The Milton Keyes based team looked promising after the first practice session when they finished third and fourth, however that pace has since dropped away. Team boss Christian Horner said: "The pace at the sharp end is just a little bit too much for us at the moment."
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