Verstappen delivers ominous message to rivals

Max Verstappen has delivered an ominous warning to Red Bull's rivals ahead of the British Grand Prix weekend.

The Dutchman had been pressurised in qualifying for the first time since Charles Leclerc took pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when the Ferrari driver found pace in Austria last weekend.

But Verstappen was able to utilise the strength of the RB19 to eke out more time and secure top spot on the grid at the Red Bull Ring.

With the ease of Red Bull's dominance this season, the two-time F1 World Champion has rarely been forced into pushing his machinery to the limit and despite the tight nature of Austrian GP qualifying, it seems there is more in the tank.

"To be honest, I only needed to go 0.040secs faster, so I was still not on the limit on that lap," Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"You want to keep it within the lines, they were very strict on the white lines. So once I saw that after Turn 3 or 4 I was up, I knew that should be enough."

We are not standing still

Given its advantage, Red Bull has added fewer major upgrade packages to the car than rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin.

But insisting work is continuing to improve the package, Verstappen added: "We had a great start to the year, we also understand our car and race after race, [it is] getting better.

"But we are not standing still. It is true that maybe other teams speak more about bigger upgrades from one race to another, but we still bring stuff as well.

"It is definitely a good sign. We still have a good margin. Of course, at some tracks, it is bigger than others, but overall it is a strong base package we have.

"We always have to make sure we get all the potential out of it."