Max Verstappen thinks he can jump above both Ferrari drivers and Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo to finish third in the standings by the end of 2016.
Verstappen finished second at the British Grand Prix, splitting the Mercedes drivers, as Ferrari's challenge failed to materialise. He is currently sixth in the standings but has taken two podiums and a victory since his elevation from Toro Rosso to Red Bull ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen sees no reason why he cannot keep up his current form and continue moving up the standings.
"We are pretty close, so we will see where we end up at the end of the season," he said. "It will be between third or sixth -- hopefully. You try to do the best possible race every race and we see after Abu Dhabi where we are."
Ferrari's season has failed to live up to winter expectations and comes to Hungary knowing it "cannot fail" again after ten races without a win. The developing threat of Red Bull has seen the Milton Keynes outfit move to within six points of Ferrari in the constructors' championship.
Verstappen thinks Hungary is a place where Red Bull can set its sights on Mercedes rather than Ferrari.
I think the best chance was in Monaco, for sure. But here the car can be very strong and I'm looking forward to the weekend because so far the car has been pretty strong, even on tracks where we didn't expect it to be that strong.
We just have to wait and see. It's all about the set-up now and how we can improve during the sessions. Hopefully we can be very close."