Verstappen downplays overtaking fears

Max Verstappen played down fears there will be little overtaking in Formula 1 this season after his first day of testing a 2017 car in Barcelona.

While new regulations have been introduced in order to produce more aggressive-looking cars that are more challenging for drivers, the increase in aerodynamic performance has led to fears that overtaking will be difficult. Verstappen was the most prolific overtaker in the sport last season, and after his first taste of a 2017 car he said, "Well I have done some [overtaking] today, so it is okay, it works, you can overtake with the car.

"I think it should be pretty similar [to last year]. We will have to wait and see, but hopefully we won't need to overtake.

"Today I have experienced a bit of close driving to other cars but it felt pretty similar. You have more downforce and you are going a bit faster through corners so it cancels it out a little bit. It should be all right."

Verstappen's view was shared by Kevin Magnussen, who believes the wider cars will naturally cause problems on certain circuits but not all.

"I did an overtaking today!" Magnussen said when asked by RACER if overtaking will be difficult. "It was on the Sauber, so ... I think it's going to be tricky on the slow tracks, twisty tracks and fine on tracks with long straights."

As well as offering encouraging views on overtaking, Verstappen was also impressed with Red Bull's progress as he completed 89 laps and set the third-fastest time overall.

"[The day was] very good. Of course you can expect the first day to have little issues because it was basically for us a shakedown, we haven't done any kilometers before. But today was actually very positive for us, so I am happy about today.

"For us at the moment it is not showing how quick we can be. It is the first test week, the second day, I think it is much more important just to get the mileage to see if all the parts are OK, and then we will see in the next few days how fast we are."

With Ferrari and Mercedes enjoying a 1.2-second advantage over Red Bull on Tuesday, the 19-year-old insists he won't worry about lap times until later in pre-season.

"We are not focused on lap times yet, it is still way too early. Everybody is doing their own programs so you don't really know where you are but we can be happy with the day as we've done a lot of mileage.

"I think the reliability was pretty good. We didn't have any issues and I think it is important to get the mileage in first because it is a new engine again. It is too early to say where we are with the engine but they've made a step which is always positive."