Max Verstappen is ready to defend the world title for the second time in his career. The Dutchman, who this year boasts two stars – a symbol of his two world titles – is already starting favorably after what was shown in the pre-season tests also held in Sakhir last week.
The reigning world champion admitted that he has a single-seater, the RB19, which already seems a step ahead of the car with which he easily won the world championship in 2022: “I expect the RB19 to be better everywhere. Or at least that’s which you always try to get from the new car, of course”.
According to Max, Ferrari will be faster on the straights thanks to the work done in Maranello on the SF-23, but, as in all things in life, balance is needed. In fact, the risk is that of losing too much load in the corners and simply moving the problem, without really solving it.
“At Ferrari they have concentrated enormously on being faster on the straights, but yes, for that reason you get lost in the corners. So time will tell what the right decision was. It is obvious that you want to go fast on the straights, but you still need to have enough grip in a corner. You always have to try to find a bit of balance.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
In his view the rivals, in this case Ferrari and Mercedes, have moved closer to Red Bull. The improvements made, especially from an engine point of view, may have reduced the margin that separated the two teams from the reigning world constructor champions.
“Everyone is supposed to have worked on engine reliability. We’re doing well. Ferrari had to lower the engine a lot last year and I think Mercedes also found something. So I think the others have taken a step forward in this Maybe even more than us in terms of raw power, but in the end most of the performance has to come from the single-seater”.
What was surprising during last week’s three-day test was the Aston Martin’s race pace performance, particularly when the AMR23 was in the hands of Fernando Alonso.
“Aston potential threat to Mercedes? Well, Mercedes have already brought a different rear wing here and I think it will be very efficient. But I still think Aston Martin have built a very good car. With today’s cars the speed in qualifying it matters a little less than in the past. If you go fast in the race, you can overtake”.
“I’m very curious. At the moment it’s very difficult for me to assess exactly where they are, but if I look at Fernando’s face when I talk to him, it seems optimistic. It’s nice to see, because we always want to have cars closer together.”
“Fernando? When I see him like this and when I hear how motivated he is to keep racing, I think he can last a long time in F1. He’s really passionate about racing and that’s very nice to see,” concluded Verstappen.
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