Verstappen “not too worried” about Ferrari, Mercedes pace

Max Verstappen insists he is “not too worried” about the pace shown by Red Bull’s rivals Ferrari and Mercedes during Formula 1 pre-season testing. 

Ferrari and Mercedes were split by just 0.003s after Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest times of the winter on the final day in Barcelona. 

Unlike its chief rivals, Red Bull did not show its hand over one lap after its programme was disrupted by a big crash for newcomer Pierre Gasly on the penultimate day of running. 

“They are always going to be quick,” Verstappen said about the pace shown by Ferrari and Mercedes.

“It’s always difficult to say if we haven’t done a run like they did but I’m not too worried about it. 

“They are very quick, but I’m happy with what we’ve done so far. The long run pace we had was very promising, but Melbourne is a different track again, different temperatures, so it’ll be about finding a good set-up.

Asked whether he feels Red Bull will be in the hunt for victory in Melbourne, Verstappen replied: “We’ll see on Saturday. Hopefully, on Sunday we’ll be there.

“If we look to the longer runs, it looks all pretty promising, so yeah, I’m looking forward to start racing now.

“I think we have a pretty good package, and also the engine seems to work really well. So I’m really happy about that.”

Honda described its pre-season as one of its best-ever in its new partnership with Red Bull, and Verstappen remains encouraged by the progress made by the Japanese manufacturer over the winter. 

“It was always a question mark for many people how it would perform,” he said. 

“But what we saw already from dyno testing and then again here on track, it was very reliable and it did exactly what I wanted it to do. So I’m very happy about that. 

“In Melbourne we see where we are. We’ll keep pushing hard to improve like everyone else, but so far not too much to complain about.”