𝐆Max Verstappen is hoping to find a little more top-end speed plus grip in Interlagos to take his charge to Mercedes a🔴t the Brazilian Grand Prix.

After struggling for grip and balance during the opening practice session, the Red Bull driver found a better set-up in FP2 to go fifth fa💧stest on the timesheet but still behind both Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

While the 20-year-old refused to rule out challenging Mercedes for victory, ♏a pattern Red Bull has produced in recent races come Sund𒐪ay, Verstappen is adamant it needs to uncover a stronger long run pace plus single lap improvements in order to keep clear of the Ferrari pair in qualifying.

“The car was a bit all over the place on the 🌄super-soft so that should be a bit better but we are not too far off,” Verstappen said. “The long runs on the super-soft seems to be quite okay but on the softs it seems Mercedes is very quick.

“We know they are normally a little bit harder on their tyres so maybe that is why the soft works for them quite well. There are🐭 still some improvements we need👍 to make.

“Yes I think our car in the past few races has definitely been the quickest car now we just need a bit more top speed⛄. I think generally t🌠he car is very good. I think Mercedes is quick but if we can make some improvements then we will be there or thereabout.”

Verstappen is enjoying a hot run of form with two wins and one second place to his name in the past four races which has given him an outside shot 🃏of catching Kimi Raikko🌳nen for fifth place in the Formula 1 world drivers’ championship. Verstappen trails the Ferrari driver by 30 points with two rounds remaining in 2017.