Verstappen: With Mercedes or Ferrari they'd never see us again

Speaking to Dutch reporters after the British Grand Prix, from which he spun out after a brake failure, Verstappen said, "We have the strongest chassis of all. If we had Mercedes or Ferrari they would never see us again."

"We have too little speed on the straight. It's really a problem and since Ferrari and Mercedes made their engine upgrade, the gap has really increased," he added.

At power-hungry Silverstone the TAG-Heuer badged Renault power units bolted to the back of the Red Bulls were well off the pole-winning pace, Verstappen three-quarters of a second adrift with everything maxed-up for Q3.

Looking ahead, next up at Hockenheim will be much of the same predicts the Dutchman, "It's eight corners and long straights in between. You never know, we could have good results thanks to incidents and safety cars. It won't be easy."

"I think after that we can really compete strongly in Hungary, Singapore and Mexico. I think on average we lose six, seven-tenths because of the engine, but there are about four-tenths we can compensate for at some tracks."

"I see opportunities at these places where our car will be stronger," added Verstappen in the hope that at aero-friendly venues the RB14 has the chance to challenge their two main adversaries for victory as they have done this season in China, Monaco and Austria.