Verstappen 'not too worried' about pace of rivals

Max Verstappen has insisted that he is "not too worried" about the pace of Ferrari and Mercedes over the past couple of weeks of testing in Barcelona, saying the two championship contenders were always going to be fast ahead of the new season.

Following the conclusion of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton's times were the fastest, which follows on from their status as the two most dominant drivers from the 2018 season.

Red Bull finished that campaign in third, some distance off the top two, but Verstappen doesn't seem too worried that they are showing their pace again.

“They are always going to be quick,” the Dutchman said of Ferrari and Mercedes.

“It’s always difficult to say if we haven’t done a run like they did but I’m not too worried about it.

“They are very quick, but I’m happy with what we’ve done so far. The long run pace we had was very promising, but Melbourne is a different track again, different temperatures, so it’ll be about finding a good set-up."

Not our best day in Barcelona, but leaving with a positive feeling and confidence in our package and pace. Ready for the challenge in Melbourne #KeepPushing #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/aEuyQcfhMQ — Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) March 1, 2019

When asked whether he believed Red Bull have a chance of winning the opening grand prix of the season in Australia, Verstappen was coy with his response.

“We’ll see on Saturday. Hopefully, on Sunday we’ll be there," he answered.

“If we look to the longer runs, it looks all pretty promising, so yeah, I’m looking forward to start racing now."

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