Max Verstappen has demanded that Red Bull "need" upgrades, with its advantage officially having vanished.
Verstappen starts the Spanish Grand Prix from second on the grid after being beaten to pole position by Lando Norris, who went two hundredths of a second quicker in Q3.
Red Bull was expected to return to its dominant ways at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya; however, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes are on a similar level to the Milton Keynes-based team.
With its advantage gone, Verstappen has recognised that Red Bull cannot take its foot off the gas and needs performance improvements.
"I think it's been OK, but not good enough, clearly," Verstappen told select media including RacingNews365.
"These kinds of tracks, I was hoping, of course, to be ahead. But the other teams are catching up. We've seen this already in the last few races, so it's definitely a lot harder.
"We need to do everything perfect to be first. We just need to bring more performance to the car."
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More needed
One thing which has happened for Verstappen and Red Bull, is that the pair has enjoyed a smooth weekend.
None of its recent issues have reappeared with only a few tweaks to the RB20 having been made.
Whilst this has improved the team's performance in places, Verstappen knows more is required now.
"Clean. We had no issues from what we've experienced in the last few weeks, but it took a bit of fine-tuning and to get the car quick, I would say," added Verstappen.
"But I don't feel like it's always you know just fine-tuning. Sometimes also it just seems like we are lacking a bit of pace. So we need to yeah just try and be more competitive."
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