Max Verstappen - Red Bull has "nothing shocking" to improve

Verstappen during testing in Bahrain 2021 — Photo: © LAT Images

Max Verstappen

Verstappen - Red Bull has "nothing shocking" to improve

Verstappen has dismissed Red Bull as title favourites

Ian Parkes

Saturday 20 March 2021 18:00

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Max Verstappen believes he has yet to discover an area of the new Red Bull that is in drastic need of improvement ahead of the forthcoming Formula 1 season.

Red Bull emerged as the "class act" of pre-season testing according to Mercedes motorsport strategy director James Vowles whose team head into the season-opening race in Bahrain playing catch up.

Vowles has additionally described the RB16B as "planted" and "stable", underlined by the performance of Verstappen and new team-mate Sergio Perez across the three days at the Bahrain International Circuit.

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Compared to the twitchy rear end of last year's RB16, Verstappen said of the upgrade: "You always want to improve in every area, so we look into every area where we can improve, and there's nothing shocking at the moment.

"I think we improved the car a lot throughout the year. The floor now is different to last year, it was always going to feel different, but it's a good start.

"For me, what was most important were that the setup changes we made to the car were responding. Everything was just working well. You are driving the car, changing things on the car, and they worked. That's good."

It was a similar report with regard to the updated power unit from Honda, with Verstappen adding: "It's a bit difficult to say on the performance side. It feels good, and we did a lot of laps and no hiccups."

Even though Red Bull appears to have the advantage going into the first race, Verstappen is fully expecting Mercedes to find a cure for its early problems.

"I don't think we are the favourites, if Mercedes wins that many championships in a row," said Verstappen. "I think it's still the same since before the test. Not much to add.

"I was just very happy from my side we could do that many laps because that's always important. The engineers, everyone back at the factory, they want a lot of data. Then we'll find out in Q3 in the first race where we are."