Red Bull's Max Verstappen believes Red Bull are a "bit to slow" to challenge rivals Mercedes and Ferrari in Melbourne this weekend after finishing fifth and sixth quickest during second practice on Friday.
Verstappen was 1.4 seconds adrift of Lewis Hamilton's best time from the session and almost nine-tenths back on Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second quickest.
The Dutch driver's session didn't go exactly to plan however after he ran wide at Turn 12 and across the grass, ending his session prematurely with damage to the floor of his RB13.
"I had a bit of understeer, went off track and damaged the floor," he said of the incident. "We were just trying to find a better balance [during the session].
"I think we are a bit too slow. We're trying to improve," he added. "I think we're where I expected us to be. We're trying to make the best of it at the moment."
Meanwhile team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was slightly quicker, but was still a second adrift of the top spot, and although he is confident of making gains before qualifying on Saturday, he concedes pole position is probably out of reach.
"I think we can still get more out of it," said the local hero. "I think this morning was promising, and we tried a few things this afternoon, it's fair to say they didn't work as much as we'd like so we'll probably go back a bit and then understand what we can do better for tomorrow.
"But, yeah, I think Mercedes sure is quick but it's more Lewis at the moment than Valtteri. At the moment it looks like he's in our group, or in a group with Ferrari… but I think we can be there.
"Pole would be a stretch, but I think we could be in that next little group."
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