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Max Verstappen is not expecting to leap ahead of rivals Mercedes and Ferrari in Barcelona, but is hopeful that their upgrades will take them closer.
Red Bull hasn't shown the raw pace of Mercedes and Ferrari, however it has managed to finish ahead of at least one of the Italian cars at each of the four races so far this year.
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The team has introduced some upgrades this weekend, which Dr Helmut Marko claims will fix the aerodynamic issues it has been suffering from so far.
"I just hope that we can make the gap a little bit smaller," Verstappen said. "I'm not expecting to jump ahead. All the bits we can get on the car and bring performance, I'm happy to take.
"Of course, the others are bringing bits, but hopefully ours will be working a little bit better."
No setup benefits from winter testing
Verstappen ruled out taking that teams have an advantage setting up the cars, due to the extensive running they did in Barcelona at pre-season testing.
The Dutchman says that Red Bull's car is already very different from the one it started the season with in February.
"It doesn't make sense, because the car you have is an evolution. The car we have now, we didn't run it at the test."
Verstappen added that he couldn't have taken any more points than what he has done from the opening four events, but admits he can always improve as a driver in some areas.
"In terms of results, I maximised what was in the car and in terms of point scoring," he commented. "I can always improve as a driver, but I don't think it would have given us more points."
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