Melbourne, Max Verstappen raises his hands
Red Bull arrived at testing with many questions, to which it found only partial answers. Yes, the RB21 has strong one-lap speed, and even race pace (with Max Verstappen) did not seem bad. But aside from the usual unknowns regarding fuel loads and other teams’ engine mappings, the three-day session in Sakhir highlighted McLaren’s superiority, especially in long runs.
Max Verstappen, a driver who certainly does not need to “play hide and seek” before races or shift pressure onto others, knows well that Red Bull’s progress does not seem enough to counter the McLaren-Norris package, especially on a track like Melbourne. That is why the world champion believes he has no chance for the season’s first GP.
Verstappen’s words
“There is work to do. At the moment, there is only one team clearly ahead of everyone, and it has an orange car. If you look at the lap times, I think McLaren is the favorite, while for us, not everything went completely smoothly,” said the #1 driver. “Improvements are never enough, but we ourselves expected something more from the RB21.”
“I don’t think we will be able to compete for victory in Melbourne, but I hope we can make improvements within a few races,” he continued. “We have some ideas on how to improve the car, and I have also spent a lot of time in the simulator.”
Max Verstappen’s concerns are also shared by technical director Pierre Waché, who noted that the Bahrain tests did not provide the expected feedback in terms of reliability and development potential.
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