Max Verstappen had a promising start with Red Bull’s latest car during his initial test, as he found himself completing laps tirelessly. As the reigning world champion, he had the car exclusively to himself on the first day of testing, avoiding any interruptions from red flags.
Verstappen impressively managed to cover a total of 143 laps during the session. This achievement translates to approximately two-and-a-half times the length of a Grand Prix race at the upcoming venue for the season-opening race.
Verstappen stated; “Overall it was a very good first day, 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.”
In several aspects, the RB20 stands out visibly from its dominant predecessor. Verstappen expresses confidence in his team’s decision to embrace boldness in its design.
He continued; “I trust the team that they make the right decisions in terms of choosing the direction of the car, 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.”
While Verstappen did shake down the new car at Silverstone, he mentioned that he didn’t form a solid impression of it until testing officially commenced.
“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.”
Following Verstappen’s lead on the first day of testing, Red Bull slipped to fourth place in the final lap time rankings.
Despite this, Verstappen expressed satisfaction, stating that “the car is better than last year’s car” and expressing confidence that the team will be able to extract more performance from it.
He stated“The team believes that with how the car is at the moment that there is more potential to find, so that’s now up to us to unlock.”
