Statement of intent
“The car does everything I want, in this respect it is better than the RB19“. These words, spoken today by Max Verstappen at the end of the third and final day of pre-season testing on the Bahrain circuit, they risk becoming the epitaph of a 2024 championship which – as has cruelly explained Fernando Alonso – risks being already assigned before even starting.
Verstappen ended the day today with only the fourth time overall, but in front of him the various Leclerc, Russell and Zhou used the softer tires (C4 and C5) to set their time. The reigning three-time world champion, however, put in his best performance – four tenths slower than that of the Ferrari driver – with the medium C3 tyres. The Red Bull standard bearer himself, continuing his analysis of the day, highlighted: not having worked to seek pure performance.
No search for effective time
“Overall, today was very positive – he explained, thus confirming the excellent sensations already experienced on Wednesday – we focused on long runs to understand the car better and it was good to see that the car's performance was very strong. We decided not to focus on pure lap time and to try different compounds, so I'm satisfied with the laps we did.”.
“Ahead of the race weekend – continued Verstappen, already turning his attention to next Saturday's race – it's about fine-tuning the car and seeing what the race offers us when we push the car to the limit. Now we need to analyze the data better and try to come up with a plan for the week ahead. The test was very positive and we learned a lot from all the changes madeso we can't wait for next weekend”. Rivals are warned: the king does not plan to abdicate.
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