“Got Good First Impressions,” Max Verstappen gives positive update on initial performance of new RB18

There was a lot of hype surrounding how Red Bull’s new RB18 championship defender would perform on the pre-season testing day. Well, the first impressions have definitely lifted the spirits of both the fans and Max Verstappen as well.

Verstappen who would be sporting number 1 on his car after he won the World Driver’s Championship by defeating Lewis Hamilton in controversial circumstances, would be looking to fight tooth and nail to defend his title and prove it to everyone that his legacy won’t be tainted controversial decisions taken by the now-defunct Formula One race director Michael Masi.

Red Bull’s new RB18 was kept under a lot of secrecy even after they officially revealed the car. A lot of people pointed out the fact that the new car was a major letdown since it featured the same old RedBull livery.

FS Video

The rules are very different this year: Max Verstappen is not worried too much about the regulation changes

Formula 1 analysts were also worried about the performance of the new car for Red Bull as there were speculations that Red Bull devoted too many resources for the 2021 season which left them with very little to work for in the 2022 season.

However, these rumours were squashed after the new RB18 driven by World Champion Max Verstappen featured an aggressive design with an unconventional sidepod solution and a solid wing design with a massive overcut.

The regulation changes have definitely rattled a lot of the drivers in the paddock since they are completely uncertain about how the car would turn out performance-wise in the first race. However, Max was clearly an exception to this since he was left unworried about the future.

”We got our first impression of the RB18 at our filming day last week and the car looks good. The rules are very different this year and so it is nice to get your first few laps in and get a feel for it. I don’t have any aims for the season yet, I just want to rock up to the track and try and do the best I can, like I do every single year.”

”The RB18 looks really nice and very cool, you can see straight away the amount of work which has gone into this car. The number of hours the men and women back at the factory have put in to get the RB18 on track is incredible. I am feeling confident within myself for this season and so I hope we have a good package this year, I can’t wait to get going in Barcelona.”

The car provided by Adrian Newey and Co seems definitely interesting, especially after the runs it made in the Pre-Season F1 Test in Barcelona.

However, much cannot be deduced from the practices since the cars are still yet to be set up to their full potential and only during the first race shall we know about the pure pace of the new cars.