The Dutchman made the most of an upgrade package on his RB18 to set a time that was 0.695 seconds faster than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as the pair rolled out a series of fast laps late on.
But while Verstappen’s effort offered some first clues about the true potential of the Red Bull, the world champion reckoned that neither he nor anyone else was pushing flat out just yet.
“Nobody is in full beans qualifying spec at the moment,” he told F1.TV as the three-day Bahrain test came to an end.
Verstappen explained that the best aspect of the day was not being fastest but actually that he was able to start understanding the different tyre compounds, as well as confirm that the Red Bull sidepod developments had worked.
“I think the main focus was about the tyres that we’re going to use next week,” he said. “The car was feeling alright, and we went through our programme we planned to do, and that’s always positive, I think.”
He added: “Of course, the car is better in low fuel, and…
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