Verstappen completes Red Bull mileage mission in Spain

Max Verstappen has revealed Red Bull's main focus was on racking up mileage on its RB18 and not outright pace in Spain after finishing ninth fastest on day one of pre-season testing.

The F1 season officially got underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and although reigning champion Verstappen was unable to set the timesheets alight, the Dutchman posted 147 laps, a distance greater than that of two Spanish Grands Prix.

Asked what his priorities had been for the day, Verstappen said: "Just laps, getting used to the car and getting a general understanding of how the car is behaving.

"Everything was working quite well today and it is a good start. I will look into what we can do tomorrow.

"Of course, Checo is driving tomorrow but it's just about doing a lot of laps and getting a bit of mileage on all the parts to see if everything is holding up."

When leaving the garage on Wednesday morning, Verstappen formally revealed the true RB18 to the world after the team used a show car at its launch earlier this month.

Verstappen joked of the RB18: "It's completely different.

"I think it looks good but at the end of the day what is most important is that it's fast. So that's what we are trying to see."

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