‘Everything was working quite well today,’ Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after colossal stint on Day 1 of pre-season testing
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The Red Bull RB18
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen went out on the track in his brand new Red Bull RB18 on the first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona and finished 9th overall, but ended up driving more laps than anyone else—147 laps.
When asked about the RB18, which looks completely different from when it was first revealed earlier this month, Max Verstappen said: “Oh yes, it’s completely different, but I think it looks good – but at the end of the day, what’s the most important is that it’s fast, so that’s what we’re trying to see,”
He then talked about how the car felt during the first day of pre-season testing and what he was hoping for from the second day of pre-season testing: “Everything was working quite well today so it’s a good start and yes, of course then I will look into what we can do tomorrow. Of course, Checo [Perez] is driving tomorrow, but it’s just about doing a lot of laps and just getting a bit of mileage on all the parts to see if everything is holding up.”
How did everyone besides Red Bull fare on the first day of pre-season testing?
McLaren driver Lando Norris set the fastest time on the first day of pre-season testing on Wednesday, as everyone hit the grid in the new generation of Formula One cars for the first time.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc initially had the fastest time in the morning session, but Norris was faster in the afternoon, clocking a time of 1 minute, 19.568 seconds at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit.
Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s teammate, finished third on the day, ahead of new Mercedes driver George Russell and his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel finished the day sixth overall, with his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll finishing 13th after taking over in the afternoon. Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda finished 7th overall after completing 121 laps, ahead of the Alpine’s Fernando Alonso (P8).
New Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas finished in 10th place, while reserve driver Robert Kubica ended up at the bottom of the timing board in 16th place.
The Williams pairing of Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi finished 11th and 14th, respectively. Mick Schumacher(P12) finished ahead of his Haas teammate Nikita Mazepin(P15).
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Arjun Vikraman
(7 Articles Published)