Formula One: Red Bull asked to ‘step it up’ by Max Verstappen as he eyes championship

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas won his 10th race in Formula One by claiming victory in the Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul on Sunday. Max Verstappen finished behind the Finish driver, but ahead of his direct rival for the Formula One driver championship Lewis Hamilton who finished fifth. Also on the podium was Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez as the Red Bull drivers did well to secure second and third. However, Verstappen did complain about the car not being balanced after his 'not so great' practice session on Friday and after the main race, he said that their car isn't as fast as the Mercedes especially the straights, and has asked his Red Bull team to 'step it up' so that they can fight for the constructors' championship and the drivers' championship as well.

"Of course overall I think we have been at tracks that naturally were a bit better for Mercedes but then this track was a bit unknown and clearly they were ahead of us," Verstappen told Sky F1 at Istanbul Park. "I do think we need to step it up a bit to be in the fight until the end of the season."

He then said that Mercedes have sorted their car out better and that there is not much that they can do.

"Of course they've sorted their car out so it's a bit more obvious that top speed they have," added Verstappen. "There's not much we can do."

Horner agrees with Verstappen

Team boss Christian Horner echoed his star driver's words by saying that the speed that Mercedes possessed was unreal especially on the straights.

"The straight-line speed of Lewis was 15 to 20 kmh up after the kink on the straight, which is phenomenal," said team boss Christian Horner, who also told reporters he was "surprised" by Mercedes' recent pace. Red Bull recently raised questions about their rivals' engine to the FIA, though those appear to have been knocked back. Mercedes also insist nothing has changed on their latest Power Unit, which Hamilton debuted in Turkey and led to him starting at 11th place in the grid.

"When you've got straight-line speed that's greater than with a DRS open, that's pretty impressive," said Horner. "It's down to the FIA to continue to look at these things."

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