Verstappen and Red Bull set "really good base" for F1 title challenge

Red Bull believes it has built a "really good base" for its Formula 1 title challenge this season after Max Verstappen posted the fastest time in pre-season testing.

The team topped the timesheet in both morning and afternoon sessions on the third and final day at the Bahrain International Circuit courtesy of laps from Sergio Perez and Verstappen respectively.

Verstappen's lap in the more representative evening conditions of one minute 28.960secs was the fastest overall which has even worried Mercedes.

Red Bull head of race engineering Guillaume Rocquelin revealed the team had completed all its planned run programmes and can look forward to the season-opening race on F1's return to Bahrain in a fortnight.

“Both sessions today were identical in terms of the run plan," said Rocquelin.

"As opposed to the first couple of days, today was more about trying to optimise the car and understand where we’re going, so shorter runs, more setup items, a bit more time in the garage.

"We were still doing some development work but also really getting the crew and the drivers up to speed in terms of procedures and pit stops. It was a similar plan for both drivers and similar results for both.

"Overall, this has been a positive test phase. Three days are never going to be enough. I don’t think anyone would say they are, but in terms of the time available, what we got out of this test was very useful.

"We’ve got a really good base to build from and we’re looking forward to coming back to Bahrain in a couple of weeks.”

Verstappen is aiming to finally challenge for the title with Red Bull and the chance may present itself if the struggles experienced by Mercedes persist into the start of the season.

While the Dutch driver recognises Red Bull has at least started off on the right foot, he is also wary of getting too carried away.

“It was another good day and we got through the whole programme," added Verstappen.

"Conditions were a bit different to day one so we had to adjust the car a bit as we went along but from our side, it was very smooth, as it has been throughout the whole test.

"I think we can say it has been a good weekend but of course that doesn’t give you any guarantees and all teams are doing different programmes at testing.

"We always look into what we can improve and for sure there are still things we want to work on but I think all teams will have that.

"We’ll find out for sure in a couple of weeks in Q3 where we really are but in general I would say the car feels good and I’m looking forward to going racing.”

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