Max Verstappen wasn’t getting carried away despite leading both practice sessions at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday.
The Dutchman continued Red Bull’s momentum from testing, albeit only fractionally ahead of Lando Norris in the McLaren but a quarter of a second clear of Valtteri Bottas in the fastest Mercedes.
And reflecting on practice, Verstappen was fairly satisfied.
“Yeah, it’s been a good day again. of course, with the heat, not easy to find a really good balance around the whole lap. I think it’s a positive day,” he said.
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“Of course there are still things to look into what we can look better for tomorrow, but again, also tomorrow, I think it’s going to be even windier so that will be even more difficult to drive. That’s the same for everyone, so we’ll see what happens.”
Asked if he thought the pace of Norris suggested his main threat could be from the papaya cars rather than the black Silver Arrows, Verstappen replied: “I don’t think so. I still expect Mercedes to be the strongest Mercedes-powered car.”
As for new Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, it was a slightly tougher day as he ended Practice 2 down in 10th, six-tenths off Verstappen.
“I’m pleased so far with how things are going,” said the Mexican. “I’m settling in well and taking some steps forwards.
“If I were to summarise today, I’ve got some work to do on the short runs as over one lap I don’t quite feel the car is within me just yet and I still have to think about what the car is doing.
“But in the long runs I’m more comfortable and I think the pace is there so that’s positive.
“I think we have some work to do on the Soft tyre as there is also room for improvement there,” he added.
“But the car is performing well, we have good pace and tomorrow it will be pretty close in qualifying so we need to make sure we get it right and have a good start to the season.”
