Max Verstappen’s first proper test in Red Bull’s new car went so well he began to tire of the number of laps he completed.
The reigning world champion had the car to himself for the opening day of testing, the only one not to be affected by red flags. He covered 143 laps, equivalent to two-and-a-half grand prix distances at the venue of next weekend’s season-opening race.
“Overall it was a very good first day,” said Verstappen on Friday. “I couldn’t really wish for more – I was actually wishing for less laps.
“But I did a lot of laps, everything went well. The balance was very nice. We tried quite a few things on the car, also for me to understand moving forward. We completed the whole program without any any problems so for me that was a really good day.”
The RB20 is visibly different from its dominant predecessor in several respects. Verstappen is confident his team has taken the right decision to be bold with its design.
“I trust the team that they make the right decisions in terms of choosing the direction of the car,” he said. “I saw, of course, how it was already drawn at the end of last year. But I honestly I don’t care how the car looks as long as it’s fast.”
Although he shook down the new car at Silverstone, Verstappen said he didn’t get a good impression of it until testing began.
“Unfortunately our filming day was wet, so you don’t really know anything. But as soon as I jumped in here, it felt pretty normal.
“It looks a bit different but it’s the direction that the team chose and I believe that’s the best direction to go into if they say so. From my side now, it’s all about just giving my feedback about balance of the car, what I think can be improved.”
After Verstappen headed the first day of testing, Red Bull fell to fourth place in the final ranking of lap times. But he is satisfied “the car is better than last year’s car” and the team will extract more performance from it.
“The team believes that with how the car is at the moment that there is more potential to find,” he said. “So that’s now up to us to unlock.”
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Formula 1
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