Verstappen: 'Not nice' missing out on podium so often

Max Verstappen says he is not getting frustrated by his run of fourth-place finishes at the start of the Formula 1 season, but admits it is “not nice” to continually miss out on the podium.

Verstappen picked up his fifth P4 result in eight races last weekend at Paul Ricard as Mercedes and Ferrari once again enjoyed a pace advantage over Red Bull, which has failed to compete at the very front of the field through the early part of the year.

Despite winning the Austrian Grand Prix last year, Verstappen conceded it would be “a bit difficult” to repeat the result in 2019, saying the team needs “quite a bit of luck for that”.

Asked if he found it frustrating to keep finishing fourth, Verstappen said: “I wouldn’t call it frustrating. It’s not that I’m miles off. I always have, I don’t know if it’s a Ferrari in front or a Mercedes, but they’re not that far away.

“We just need to keep pushing hard to try and get more performance out of the car, performance out of the engine at the moment. We’re clearly lacking a bit of pace from both sides, so we’ll just try to get the most out of it.

“I’m not here to be fourth, I want to win races. It’s not nice to drive around in this fourth spot, just always missing out. But that’s how it is at the moment.”

Looking back on last weekend’s French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard, Verstappen said he felt Red Bull lacked top speed compared to its rivals, as well as trailing Mercedes through the corners.

“It’s not that it’s not quick enough everywhere,” Verstappen said. “When you look to Paul Ricard, you’re clearly lacking top speed. But also maybe two, three corners where compared to Mercedes we are lacking just cornering speed.

“If you compare to Ferrari, they are like a rocket on the straight, but in the corners, we are a bit more competitive. Like I said, we just need to work on both sides to just try and get back onto that podium.”

Red Bull’s inability to take the fight to Mercedes this year has led to some suggestions Verstappen could consider a move away from the team in the near future, but the Dutchman pledged his faith to the project being built at Milton Keynes with new engine supplier Honda.

“To be honest, I think it’s more important just to see what the team will also bring in the upcoming races. I’m not too worried about what’s going to happen next year or even beyond that,” Verstappen said.

“At the moment, I just want to focus on this project because I think there is still a lot of potential, and we’re just getting started.

“But of course, I don’t want to keep driving until I’m 35 in fourth. So we’ll see.”