Max Verstappen issues “you can’t rely on that all of the time” warning after Spanish GP

Max Verstappen has admitted McLaren’s impressive form is a “little bit concerning” even though he managed to win the F1 Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen clinched his seventh victory of the 2024 F1 season, finishing just over two seconds ahead of Lando Norris.

Once again, it appeared that McLaren had the edge on Red Bull in race pace, but some magic from Verstappen was enough to stay ahead of Norris.

Verstappen’s ability to get ahead of Norris and then dispatch George Russell early on ultimately made his race.

However, despite his latest triumph, Verstappen is still concerned about the regular threat from McLaren.

“Very happy because I think what made our race is getting the lead on Lap 2,” he said. “Basically, ahead of Lando because the first stint is where I won the race with the gap that I had to Lando.

“Since that first stint I was driving a very defensive race. Being quite early with the stops compared to Lando. They were definitely just a bit faster today, better on tyres as well.

“That was a little bit concerning. That’s not what you like to see but as a team we operated really well today. We maximised everything we had.”

It can be argued Red Bull haven’t had the outright fastest car in race day since China back in April.

The Verstappen-Red Bull combination have been incredibly consistent, often making the right strategy calls even if they lack the ultimate pace.

But Verstappen has warned that Red Bull need to find more performance as they can’t keep on relying on being better operationally.

“I mean it’s exciting but when I think about myself, not the sport, I want more performance,” he added. “We are not the quickest at the moment. That’s why I have to push until the end. I put myself in that position. We were comfortably ahead because of that first stint as if I didn’t get by Lando at the start I think we’d have been second today.

“Fine margins that can decide the outcome of the race. So far we’re doing everything well but you can’t rely on that all of the time. At the end of the day to win races you need to be the outright fastest and that’s what’s been lacking the last few races.”