Steven Tee/Motorsport Images
Definitely my best pre-season at Red Bull - Verstappen
This weekend has “definitely” been Max Verstappen’s best pre-season with Red Bull, but he warns the strong pace does not guarantee a competitive performance come the first race.
Verstappen set the fastest lap and completed the most mileage on the opening day, and followed that up with the fastest time again on Sunday evening when he rounded off running for Red Bull. Last year saw a number of spins in testing but this pre-season has appeared far more smooth and Verstappen admits he feels in good shape for the opening round in Bahrain.
“Yeah definitely I think it has been the best (pre-season),” Verstappen said. “But that doesn’t give you any guarantees, so we’ll find out throughout the first race weekend where we are.
“I guess everyone is (excited) now. I personally find the race weekend more interesting, but of course these days need to be done to understand the car better. So I’m just looking forward to it.”
There were a number of quick laps on Sunday from Verstappen as he ended up setting the pace on the C4 tire compound but was notably fast on the harder C4, and he says the main source of encouragement was the way the car reacts to adjustments.
“It was all right -- we did our program and of course compared to my first day the conditions were quite a bit different so we had to adjust the car a little bit towards that. I think from our side just very smooth and happy with the progress all throughout the whole test.
“We always look into what we can improve and there are some things we want to work on but I guess every team has that.
“There are a lot of changes as well made with the floor, so it’s always a bit difficult (to know if last year’s weaknesses have been addressed). You know that you would lose a bit of downforce with this floor but so far it has been quite a stable car, so that’s nice.”
Presented by
Click to subscribe and get 25% off for a limited time using code "F1TV25"
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
Read Chris Medland's articles
For Ford Racing NHRA Funny Car ace Austin Prock, it’s a family affair
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.