Pierre Gasly believes Red Bull’s rivals have made a “big step” at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, but remains confident in the team’s own performance.
Gasly finished eighth in the opening practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya before placing seventh during the afternoon running.
Team-mate Max Verstappen was fifth best for Red Bull but still trailed title leader and pacesetter Valtteri Bottas by over seven-tenths of a second.
“Overall, today felt good and it was a pretty positive day,” said Gasly.
“I think we’ve taken a step forward and the first feeling with the car is good. Of course, as a driver you always want more grip, but I think in terms of balance it was good and so I’m really happy.
“It’s only the first day of running so it’s too early to make any conclusions and we need to understand more about this package.
“It’s clear Mercedes and Ferrari have made a pretty big step, but we ran a lot of tests today, so now we need to analyse everything tonight and try to put everything together for tomorrow.”
Verstappen, who took his maiden Formula 1 win at the venue in 2016, added: “During the two practice sessions we tried to improve the car and understand the new updates, which I think we did.
“I have a good feeling about the upgrades, which work for sure, and the tyres seem to be working quite well, too. The long runs were okay and we still need to find a little bit of pace, but we have the whole night to find it.”
