Red Bull upbeat with ‘positive test’, ready for titles defence

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reigning world champions Red Bull are upbeat following the completion of Formula 1 Aramco Pre-Season Testing 2024 in Bahrain, and are ready to gun for their third successive constructors’ crown.

Three-time defending drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen topped the timesheet on the first day of running earlier this week, and is looking forward to beginning the new campaign with the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend.

“Overall it was very good today,” Verstappen said last night following the completion of the last day of tests.

“We focused on the long running to get more of an understanding of the car and it was good to see the performance was very strong. “We made the plan to not focus on pure lap time and tried different compounds, so I am happy with the laps that we did today.

“As we head into the race weekend, it is all about fine tuning the car and also seeing what the race throws at you when you push the car to the limit.

“We now need to look into the data a bit more and try to come up with a plan for the week ahead.

We’ve had a really positive test and we have learned a lot from everything we changed, so we are looking forward to next week.”

Teammate Sergio Perez mirrored Verstappen’s sentiments. He commented: “It has been a good start to the year for the team, we have got plenty of mileage over the last few days.

“The run programme that we put together was very good and meant we really made the most out of the days. “Now it is time to look forward to the race next weekend, I have a good feeling in the car, so let’s see once we get to race it, Max Verstappen is all smiles as he speaks during a Press conference but the feeling is very positive.”