Max Verstappen doubts Red Bull will be able to compete with Ferrari for victory ꦅin Belgium this weekend, but expects to be quicker through the rest of the weekend than in practice after running a lower power mode.

Verstappen struggled to get close to the pace-setters throughout Friday’s running at Spa, finishing nine-tenths of a second down on the fastest time in FP1 and 1.2 seconds off the pace in FP2. Ferrari took a one-two finis🍃h in 𓄧both sessions.

Red Bull opted to run Verstappen’s engine in a lower power setting throughout Frida🌱y to aid its life, but the Dutchman was unsure that explained the full deficit to th𒁏e Ferraris.

“The car was good ꧑in second practice, but we were a bit down on power compared to what we normally run on Friday. I think that should be fi🔯xed for tomorrow,” Verstappen said.

“But still, I th🅰ink Ferrari will be very fast. I think they ꦦwill be very hard to beat. We’ll try to be close to Mercedes. We’ll see what happens.

“I think this t𒀰rack definitely suits them a bit better than us. They are very strong. They gain a lot of lap time on the straight here, but I💖 think that’s not a surprise. We just try to do the best we can from our side.

“In general, I am quite happy with the car balance🍌. There are things that can be done better, but overall, it’s not too bad.”

Much of Ferrari’s pace at Spa is down to its engine power advantage, but Red Bull’s ꦉsupplier, Honda, has made up significant g🌼round across the course of the season.

Asked if the Honda engine was the good surprise of the season so far, Verstappen said: “Ove💃rall yes, we have been quite surprising I think to many people, but we have to keep pushing.

“Those races a🐈re done, we’ve got to move forward and become bet⭕ter and become more competitive.”