Max Verstappen was not concerned to see both Mercedes drivers well ahead of him at the end of the first day’s running in Bahrain.
The Red Bull driver was sixth quickest in the second practice session, just under half a second slower than Lewis Hamilton’s quickest time.
But Verstappen was not concerned about the performance of his new RB20 after the opening practice day in Bahrain.
“I think it was not too bad,” Verstappen told the official F1 channel. “I think it’s very close. Maybe some people around us already turned up the engine a bit, in terms of top speed. But we just focused on ourselves.
“I think today, there were a few little balance issues from front to rear, but nothing big. It’s just about trying to find that sweet spot. Especially around here, with the rough Tarmac, once you get it into that sweet spot you just pick up time. That’s what we’ll try to focus on a little bit more for tomorrow.”
Verstappen believes a large part of the reason why he was only sixth on the timing screen was due to his team not running their power unit to as high level of performance as some of their rivals.
“I don’t say everyone around us did that, but a few did,” he explained. “So I’m not too worried about the gap to P1, for example.
“But it’s going to be very close in qualifying. So that’s, I think, going to be very nice. And then the long run, I was a bit happier about that. But again, also there are few little things that we can do better.”
Despite being heard complaining about some of the characteristics of his car over team radio, such as its gearshifts, Verstappen insisted that he is close to finding a good window with his RB20.
“It’s not too far away, it’s just trying to get into it and feel a little bit happier with the car,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, you also just want to focus a bit on the long runs, because that’s where the car really needs to work. Of course qualifying is important, but we need to make sure that the car is in good shape for the race.
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2024 Bahrain Grand Prix
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