Max Verstappen issues note of caution against impressive Red Bull testing pace

Max Verstappen

Verstappen issues Red Bull note of caution ahead of Bahrain GP

The Dutchman warns you shouldn't always read too much into the RB19's superb testing performance

Stuart Hodge

Thursday 2 March 2023 19:25

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Max Verstappen and Red Bull are runaway favourites for the drivers' and constructors' championships according to the bookies heading into the 2023 season but the Dutchman isn't getting carried away.

Verstappen begins his quest for a third consecutive world championship this weekend in the desert in Bahrain on the back of a massively impressive testing performance, with both the 25-year-old and the RB19 he's driving looking imperious at the Bahrain International Circuit last week.

Sakhir is not traditionally a happy hunting ground for Verstappen, with the two-time world champion never having won there. He finished second in 2020 and 2021 but has yet to stand on the top step of the podium.

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With that in mind, and understanding that track variations can lead to fluctuations in performance – regardless of the driver or the machinery they're in – Verstappen is remaining cautious.

"There are a lot of things we still want to work on, and this is only one track, you know, some cars just work a bit better on some particular tracks as well," said the defending champion.

"I think we had three really good days, we tried so many things in the car which were quite interesting, and yeah, we had a great start. The car was immediately in the window, and we had a lot of data to go through and hopefully now on Friday we can start with a good pace."

Verstappen confident RB19 is an improvement on last year's car

Although you can never read too much into testing times, the Red Bull car was quickest on two out of the three days and Verstappen is certain the car is an improvement on last year's title-winning model.

After retiring from the race with a power issue late last year, Verstappen is hoping to avoid similar ignominy this year.

Max Verstappen's RB19 during pre-season testing

He said: "Absolutely [it is an improvement]. That’s always been the target, we knew where we had to work on. It all felt good [in testing] but I think it's also important to just be calm and realistic and just keep working.

"I think everything we did in the test was working well, so I hope of course we can have a better weekend than last year [at the Bahrain GP]."