Max Verstappen says scoring a podium in Red Bull's first race with Honda only confirmed his confidence in the new partnership.
The Dutchman managed to split the two Ferrari's in qualifying to start fourth and then pulled a nice overtake on Sebastian Vettel to claim third place.
It was a result that marked Verstappen's first podium finish in Australia and Red Bull's first since 2013, excluding Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification for P2 in 2014.
Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Max was asked if the performance of the RB15 was a significant boost for him and his prospects this year.
"Not necessarily because I was already [confident] with testing and dyno results we had before we went to pre-season testing. I felt really confident with it," Verstappen said.
"When you start driving in pre-season, it felt nice. We didn’t have a lot of problems, so I was just really happy with what I had.
"Of course there's still a bit of question mark how competitive it’s going to be, but I think it was more from the outside as people had a lot of questions.
"We were always quietly, at least from my side, confident in the package and in the engine especially and I think it showed in Australia that we’re able to overtake Ferrari on track."
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Matching the theme of the day though the 21-year-old wasn't getting carried away about making predictions, believing the next two races will be more important in shaping the pecking order.
"Every race is a bit too early to say because Australia is a bit of a funny track," Verstappen said. "Bahrain and China, you will start to see a bit more of a clearer picture of what is going to happen.
"But then still, it all depends on how you bring the upgrades to the track, and how quick – and that’s on the engine and chassis side too."
