Max Verstappen has promised more pace is to come from Red Bull after setting the fastest time in Formula 1 pre-season testing.
A late flying lap on the fastest tyres in the best conditions saw the reigning champion finish half a second up on Mick Schumacher in the Haas, with Max also the only driver to go sub 1m32s in Bahrain across the three days of running.
But Verstappen insisted Red Bull, like everyone else, had not shown their absolute pace.
“Nobody is full beans in qualifying spec at the moment,” he was quoted by Formula1.com.
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“Of course [the car is] better in low fuel and actually on the high fuel, the car…doesn’t really do a lot, but it’s the same for everyone.”
As for the decision to run the C5 tyre compound, which will not be used at this weekend’s season-opening Grand Prix in Bahrain, Max explained…
“It was just a general progression of the day and we were just trying a few different tyres, I think the main focus was about the tyres we will use next week.
“But the car was feeling all right and we went through our programme which we planned to do, and that’s always positive.”
‘Tis the season for some racing ? #F1Testing ⏱pic.twitter.com/oqlupfjniU
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 14, 2022
The final day of testing also saw Red Bull introduce a big upgrade to the RB18 which was worth around half a second of performance, according to motorsport advisor Helmut Marko who spoke to Auto Motor und Sport.
“I think with the new parts, which arrived today, they also worked well, which you always hope for,” Verstappen noted.
“They worked, so then hopefully we will keep them on [for the opening race].”
Last year, Verstappen’s best time from testing was almost identical to his eventual pole time in qualifying a week later.
It will be interesting to see how the two compare this year…