Max Verstappen is hoping to find a♛ little more top-end speed plus grip in Interlagos to take his charge to Mercedes at the Brazilian Gra﷽nd 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 fastest o𝓡n 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 Sunday, Verstappܫen 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 bitඣ 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 q💝uick.

“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 d💜efinitely been the quickest car now we just need a bit more top speed. I think generally the 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 Raikkonen for fifth place in the Formula 1 world drivers’ cham🍷pionship. Verstappen trails the Ferrari driver by 30 points with two rounds remaining in 2017.