Max Verstappen admits Red Bull 'lacking a bit of pace' as he loses pole position to Lando Norris

Max Verstappen admits that Red Bull is lacking a bit of pace, as the Dutch driver was pipped to pole position by Lando Norris. The driver started the season in a dominant fashion, securing pole position and winning the first two races.

As the season has progressed, however, there has been a stark drop in competitiveness for Red Bull. Ever since McLaren brought the upgrade in Miami, the pecking order and the general dynamics of races have changed dramatically, with Lando Norris winning the race in Miami.

Max Verstappen bounced back by fending off the McLaren driver in Imola but saw Charles Leclerc dominate in Monaco. In Barcelona, Max Verstappen looked set to take pole position until the dying stages of qualifying, when Lando Norris stole it with a lap that was less than a tenth quicker.

Looking back at qualifying, Max Verstappen conceded that only fine-tuning the car is not going to help, as the car is just lacking a bit of pace. As quoted by Racingnews365, he said,

"Clean. We had no issues from what we've experienced in the last few weeks, but it took a bit of fine-tuning and to get the car quick, I would say. But I don't feel like it's always you know just fine-tuning. Sometimes also it just seems like we are lacking a bit of pace. So we need to yeah just try and be more competitive."

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Max Verstappen admits that he hoped the car would be further ahead

Coming into the weekend, common wisdom had Max Verstappen and Red Bull back as favorites. The kerbs and bouncing issues were not at the forefront here, and hence the reigning champions were supposed to get back to dominating the field.

That has not happened, and Verstappen felt that Red Bull needed to continue bringing more performance to the car to build the advantage. He said,

"I think it's been OK, but not good enough, clearly. These kinds of tracks, I was hoping, of course, to be ahead. But the other teams are catching up. We've seen this already in the last few races, so it's definitely a lot harder. We need to do everything perfect to be first. We just need to bring more performance to the car."

Max Verstappen will be starting the race in P2, and even though he's still got every chance to win the race, it's hard to disagree that Red Bull has been caught by the competition in terms of performance. The driver will face stiff competition from Lando Norris, who starts the race on pole position.

There is also a lack of clarity on how good or bad the race of the Mercedes duo is, as the team's upgraded package continues to surprise everyone.