Max Verstappen has played down his chances of taking on Mercedes's might for the 2016 world championship.

Despite driving for Toro Rosso for the first four races of 2016, the 18-year-old has just 10 fewer points than Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

At the weekend, he collected the prestigious Lorenzo Bandini trophy in Italy but played down his hopes of bridging the 78-point deficit to Nico Rosberg's lead.

"I lost a lot of points in the first few races but I think at the moment the Mercedes are just too strong," he told the Italian news agency Mediaset.

"Too many things would have to happen for me to fight for the world championship. But from third to sixth place is very close and I'm focused on being in the best position possible."

He is also quoted by Spain's El Confidencial as saying: "Our main goal is to keep reducing the gap to Mercedes, and we can overtake Ferrari in the constructors' championship.

"Those are our main goals."

Verstappen thinks that it is a very real target for Red Bull to now establish themselves as a consistently stronger force than Ferrari.

"I'm sorry to say it here [in Italy]," he is quoted as saying by Marca, "but while we started the championship behind Ferrari, we are ahead of them and now the target is to reach Mercedes."

The season continues with the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.