Max Verstappen says the new Red Bull is “definitely an improvement” after a “very positive” Formula 1 pre-season test in Bahrain.
The reigning world champion went quickest on the opening day for Red Bull and was only denied P1 by a Zhou Guanyu soft tyre run on Friday.
Though a reported oil leak denied Verstappen a completely smooth day-and-a-half in the RB19, the Dutchman was more than happy with his work done.
“I think the car is working really well,” he said. “Just going through a lot of things that we wanted to try, and everything is very interesting, what we have been trying.
“So very positive days for me. And just in general enjoying driving the car.”
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Last year’s Red Bull RB18 became one of the most dominant cars in F1 history with 17 wins in 22 races, 15 of which were scored by Verstappen.
And worryingly for their rivals, the double world champion declared the 2023 car to be another step forward in terms of performance.
“There are quite a few differences in the cars, it definitely drives a bit different,” he said.
“I think that’s also a bit related to the tyres. But overall, I think it’s definitely an improvement from last year.
Wrapped for Day 2 ? A best time of 1:31.650 for Max this afternoon with 47 laps on the board ⏱️ #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/yfZ15W4fT8
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 24, 2023
“The main issue we had last year is that the car was massively overweight. So in the beginning, the car was just very lazy it was not turning in because the weight was also in the wrong place on the car.
“And throughout the year we got rid of that, and you could see the performance of course was increasing a lot and it became more of a race car.
“And this year is not just a continuation, but also things that we found and put on the car that were clearly better.
“We already have things in the pipeline coming, and just work in progress. But we know what our limitations are, and we work around this.”
The expectation is Verstappen and Red Bull will be the combination to beat come next weekend in Bahrain, and Max was asked if he was “confident” of victory in the season opener.
“It’s not only about confidence, it’s just about actually putting the performance down,” he explained.
“I think we had really positive test days and we learned a lot, and hopefully we just start off the weekend well, and then we’ll see where we end up.
On the potential pecking order, Verstappen added: “I don’t know it’s difficult to say. I think that it’s more important that we just focus on ourselves. We’re happy with what we’re doing.”