Perez happy with morning session Verstappen: "A good start"

In a press conference in Bahrain, where among others Formule1.nl were present, Perez states that nothing meaningful can be said yet about the potential of the RB16. "It's still early days," he says. Verstappen accounted for the first four hours of testing Friday afternoon. In total there will be three days of testing; two blocks of four hours each day.

The conditions are not optimal. There's a lot of wind, which doesn't make the testing any easier. Engineers would like to have the same conditions for three days, so the analyses are very reliable. That doesn't seem to be happening this weekend. "It's windy and that makes it difficult. It was a good start though."

With the full Saturday and Sunday morning, Perez will only be in action for a total of one and a half days. Last year this was three days. Staying away from trouble is key for that reason. "It's not ideal if you lose time then. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly for me and I can make as many metres as possible," Perez concluded.