Max Verstappen fears Red Bull are struggling to fend off their rivals as a trio of British stars threaten his supremacy.

The Dutchman won in Barcelona at the weekend but was only narrowly ahead of Lando Norris. And the winner admitted he would most likely have finished behind the McLaren man had he not got the better start off the line.

The gap to third-placed Lewis Hamilton was more significant, but Mercedes announced themselves as true podium contenders again with George Russell not far behind in fourth. The Silver Arrows managed the same result, albeit with their drivers swapped around, as they had produced in Canada two weeks earlier.

With those three Brits closing the gap and applying the pressure, Verstappen admits it is good for F1 to have a real fight at the front again. But personally he is concerned about the threat from his rivals and what might happen if Red Bull’s standards slip.

He said: “It’s exciting but when I think about myself, not the sport, I want more performance. We are not the quickest at the moment. That’s why I have to push until the end. I put myself in that position. We were comfortably ahead because of that first stint as if I didn’t get by Lando at the start I think we’d have been second today.

“Fine margins that can decide the outcome of the race. So far we’re doing everything well but you can’t rely on that all of the time. At the end of the day to win races you need to be the outright fastest and that’s what has been lacking the last few races.”

Verstappen continued to share his concern even as he expressed his delight with a seventh win from 10 Grands Prix so far this year. He added: “I’m very happy because I think what made our race is getting the lead on lap two. Basically, ahead of Lando because the first stint is where I won the race with the gap that I had to Lando.

Max Verstappen is worried about the pressure Red Bull are under from rivals ( 
Image:
Getty Images)

“Since that first stint, I was driving a very defensive race. Being quite early with the stops compared to Lando. They were definitely just a bit faster today, better on tyres as well. That was a little bit concerning. That’s not what you like to see but as a team we operated really well today. We maximised everything we had.”

But even though the improvements made by others are clearly a source of worry for the championship leader, he insists he will continue to focus on what he can control and said: “I cannot look into what they’re doing at the moment. The only thing that I can control is within our team what we are going to bring and that’s what I’m focused on.

“Of course, you can dream about potential improvements from other teams, but that’s just a waste of energy. So I’m just very busy on trying to optimize my package and try to make it better, discussing a lot of things with the engineers and try to find solutions to stay on top.”