Verstappen "overtaken by McLarens" in F1 Imola GP race runs

Max Verstappen says he was passed and dropped by the McLarens during Imola Formula 1 practice long runs, with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko saying the team lacks four tenths.

The world champion endured a difficult FP1 and then finished Friday running in fifth place in a slightly more positive FP2 session, but the Dutchman was still 0.442 seconds behind pace-setting McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.

Red Bull has brought several upgrades to Imola, including a reworked engine cover, rear suspension and rear corner. But McLaren has also brought improvements to the classic Italian venue, with it looking unlikely Red Bull has made much inroads on its rival over longer stints.

"We tried a lot of bits, some worked better than others but yeah overall not fast enough at the moment," Verstappen told Sky.

Asked how high his confidence is that he can still eke out a fourth pole of the season, he replied: "At the moment not very high. We definitely need a bit more work to just get a better through corner balance to go faster.

"In the long runs I got overtaken by the McLaren, so that says enough, right? They pull away. But even then, compared to other teams around us, it was a bit tough today."

Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

Team advisor Marko was singing from a similar hymn sheet, declaring that Red Bull had made some progress from a "depressing" Miami weekend where Verstappen finished 40s behind Piastri, but not enough to be in the mix.

"Disappointing, McLaren is still, from what it looks like, four tenths ahead - that’s quite a lot on this track," the Austrian said.

"We have made some progress with our updates but, basically, we haven’t come much closer. The fact remains that McLaren is absolutely superior.

"In Miami we were seven tenths to a second behind in the race. Here, it looks like we are about four tenths behind. That would mean we’ve made a step forward.

"But let’s wait and see how qualifying goes and how the tyre degradation is in the race. It seems like that has improved a bit.

"Also, we have something positive: Yuki [Tsunoda] is within a tenth of Max and is coping well with this set-up."