RB18 offers Verstappen hope: 'So far, the car is pretty good'

Max Verstappen can look back on an excellent day of testing with Red Bull Racing. The Dutchman managed to put many laps to his name, helping his team to collect data. Nevertheless, the driver still sees plenty of improvements, he says in a press release.

Where Verstappen was still one of the great talents last season, the pressure as reigning world champion is completely different. The Red Bull driver has to deal with a pattern of expectations and therefore knows that all eyes will be on him when he starts his first race weekend in Bahrain.

This week the Formula 1 teams have the opportunity to work extensively on their new car and they are making extensive use of it. Meanwhile, Verstappen is starting to get a better feel for the car. However, he finds it difficult to say where the team stands. This is partly because of the use of different tires during the test days.

"We won’t really use these tyre compounds for the race so again, it’s not really representative," assesses Verstappen, who still sees plenty of parts to improve. "So far the car is pretty good but there are always areas to work on."