Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is happy with Red Bull Racing's new car after pre-season testing in Barcelona.
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Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen is happy with the way the RB18 has handled so far. However, the defending Formula 1 world champion expects the car to be differently set up at Bahrain.
The ten F1 teams have completed the first round of pre-season testing at Barcelona. However, the teams will now head to Bahrain for the official pre-season testing.
The second and final round of pre-season testing will run from March 10-12. The season-opening race weekend follows a week later at Sakhir itself.
And, as things stand, Verstappen is happy about the way the team’s new car is functioning. “It’s difficult to rate,” Verstappen said about the final session of pre-season testing at Barcelona.
RB18 ? Golden hour ? #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/VrtTVZi3CE
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 27, 2022
“What was positive is the car was running smooth, I was happy with the balance – but Bahrain is going to be completely different, so heading into race one, the car will be completely different as well.
“So for me, I just focussed on doing a lot of laps and try to really nail down every single aspect of the car.”
However, Verstappen admitted that Red Bull were unable to complete their whole programme of testing on the final day.
The last day of testing saw a number of stoppages take place. The day began with a stoppage for Fernando Alonso and saw Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Haas, AlphaTauri and Aston Martin end their running early.
However, the Dutchman is positive the team gained whatever it was they could from the truncated final day.
“Yes, it was alright. Of course, quite a few red flags so… we could not complete our whole programme. But everything was working well, the car felt good, it just continued from what I did on Day 1, [which was] the most important objective here for us.
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“The car runs really well. In general, the weight is a bit up, but I really enjoy driving the car, it has a nice stable balance and I think they look cool as well – that’s always nice to jump into.”
It is worth noting that Verstappen was consistently in and around the fastest lap times throughout testing. However, pre-season timings are often difficult to gauge.
This is due to the fact that teams run completely different set-ups than they would on race weekends. As such, most don’t read too much into lap times – and that is a mantra that Verstappen is also following.
“I don’t know, I don’t really pay attention to the lap times yet; we will look into that in Q3 in Bahrain.”
