Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is not fancying his chances in Brazil, saying that overtaking will be "impossible" for him at Interlagos with both Ferrari and Mercedes cars in front of him.
The Dutchman is coming off the back of a very good win in Mexico, where he won his second race of the season and the fifth of his young career. Despite winning FP1 in Brazil, he couldn't get higher than P5 in qualifying, beating his teammate Daniel Ricciardo but leaving both cars of Ferrari and Mercedes in front.
"You can compare it to Monza, there we knew beforehand that we wouldn't amount to anything there either," Verstappen explained to Algemeen Dagblad.
"We have to make sure to keep the gap small so we can pounce if something happens at the front."
The 21-year-old Verstappen is ever the realist, and he knows that the cars in front of him should be quicker if nothing happens.
"I'm also not expecting rain and I hope the temperature will go up during the race, because that will be an advantage with the tyres.
"With the right strategy we could gain some places, because overtaking here is impossible."