Verstappen is still looking down at McLaren's performance

Regarding verstappen's current feelings about Red Bull's upgrades and McLaren's speed, he said, “Basically the same. Friday was just not good from our side. So, I always expected it to get better. But on Friday, we were also really far behind in the long run. So, making such a big step is obviously not easy.”

Verstappen added, “In terms of tire overheating, I still felt it. Maybe the pace was a bit better compared to Ferrari. Mercedes had a difficult race, of course. But it's not like we did what McLaren did in Miami, for example.”

He admitted that he was suprised with just one or the other's performance.

“I think it's a bit of both. That we were a bit better than expected, and maybe they were a bit less than expected.”

Regarding the improvement Red Bull made on Friday, he said, “That [shows that] we're still not completely on top of the car setup. I think it gave us some ideas for Saturday about what we need for the car in Imola. But here, for example, is a very different circuit. So you cannot set up the car the same as in Imola, because then you'll be bouncing all over the place.”