Max Verstappen admitted Red Bull were "a bit too slow" compared to Mercedes and McLaren after the first two practice sessions for the Dutch Grand Prix. (More Motorsport News)
Verstappen is without a win since the Spanish Grand Prix in June but is looking to earn a fourth victory in a row on home soil on Sunday.
However, he ended up down in fifth place after Friday's second practice session, trailing George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, and Lando Norris at Zandvoort.
Having only made the podium in one race since his last win, Verstappen is eyeing big improvements ahead of qualifying on Saturday.
"Of course, in FP1 I didn't really get a lot of running in. I guess in FP2 you could see a little bit more where you are.
"[We're] a bit too slow on the short run, a bit too slow on the long run, so a bit of work to do.
"At the moment, [there's] no clear answer of how to improve that specifically, but we'll look into things. Just a bit too slow, as simple as that.
"It's where we've been the last few races, so it's not really a surprise. We'll try to just find a little bit more performance for Sunday."
Meanwhile, Ferrari also struggled to match the early pace set by Mercedes and McLaren, with Charles Leclerc placing ninth on the timesheet after the second session.
He was the sole representative for the team for most of the session after Carlos Sainz had gearbox trouble, and the Monegasque admitted they still had work to do to challenge.
"Tough [day]!" Leclerc said. "As expected, I would say. We don't quite have the pace of the guys in front, unfortunately.
"I think it's better than what it looks like on the timesheet at the end of the day, but still not quite in the fight for the win, for sure.
"There's quite a bit of work to do still. That's what we are doing, but I hope it will pay off soon."
