Max Verstappen has downplayed the significance of Red Bull's FIA-rated advantage in internal combustion engine performance, insisting the team still needs "to do a better job".
The FIA's ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities] assessments have ranked Red Bull-Ford Powertrains as having the benchmark ICE in F1 across the early checkpoints of this season.
Mercedes was measured at a two- to four per cent ICE power deficit to Red Bull, while Ferrari, Audi and Honda fell beyond that threshold, a gap that has granted those manufacturers the advantage of upgrades.
But the ADUO framework only evaluates the combustion engine, not total hybrid output. The Milton Keynes-based team formally contested the FIA's conclusions earlier this year, with team boss Laurent Mekies claiming that Red Bull's own telemetry showed no such advantage.
"We certainly would like to have a deeper conversation because we do not see one single data sample that indicates that we would have an advantage over our friends at Mercedes," said Mekies.
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Verstappen - 'It takes time'
Verstappen echoed that scepticism when asked about the ADUO findings, explaining why the ICE rating alone tells only part of the story.
"The thing is, you have the measurement of the engine, the ICE, and not the battery, right?" the four-time F1 champion said. "So it's two different things.
"At the end of the day, they [Mercedes] almost deploy the same amount of power. If you only measure one thing, maybe we are very good on the ICE side, and then maybe not as strong on the battery side compared to Mercedes. It's very hard to know.
"But that's what it looks like at the moment in terms of deployment."
Rather than leaning on the FIA data as vindication, the Dutchman turned his attention to what Red Bull can still improve.
"We just have to do a better job," he said. "We will just keep working, keep trying to be better in every aspect, of course, car, engine, battery, all of that.
"It's an ongoing development process we have to work on, but it takes time."
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