Red Bull has work to do on its 2019 chassis.

That is the view in Bahrain of Max Verstappen, who only narrowly stayed ahead of Haas' Kevin Magnussen in qualifying rather than challenge the top teams Ferrari and Mercedes.

"We are actually better than best of the rest here," Dane Magnussen said.

Verstappen is quoted by the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad as admitting that the Red Bull chassis is not working optimally in Bahrain.

One theory is that Red Bull needs to abandon its front wing concept and instead copy the direction taken by Ferrari.

"Ours is a lot different from theirs," Verstappen said.

"Perhaps we have not yet realised our potential, but there is something that is not quite right yet," he added.

The Dutchman backed Red Bull to respond quickly in the coming races.

"Hopefully it won't take longer than two or three races," said Verstappen.

He said Honda should not be blamed for the lack of winning pace in Bahrain.

"I don't think we should say anything about Honda while we ourselves are wrong in terms of balance," said Verstappen.