F1
Nate Saunders, General Editor, F1 6y

Max Verstappen positive despite Red Bull's F1 testing 'hiccups'

Formula 1

MONTMELO, Spain -- Max Verstappen is not worried by the fact Red Bull ended the first pre-season test of 2018 with a limited and problematic day.

Despite weather conditions improving from the last couple of days, which saw very limited running, Verstappen completed only 35 laps and saw his day end 90 minutes early when he beached the car at Turn 12.

"I had a little moment," he explained. "I went into the gravel, I wanted to reverse, but I got stuck."

Mileage is key at this point of pre-season, with teams nowhere close to exploring the true performance limits of their new cars. Red Bull opted against running in the wet conditions in the early morning and, after Verstappen finally took to a drying track in the afternoon, suffered a mechanical issue. His visit to the gravel trap occurred in the evening once the issue had been fixed. 

"We didn't want to run because when it was that wet it didn't really make sense for us. Then when the track was drying out a bit of course you went out on the intermediates, and everything seemed to work quite well. And then we did our program, just checking the car on the slick tires initially, just some short runs. Then actually when we wanted to go for some longer runs we had a little hiccup.

"We had a leak, so we were just checking the whole car, and everything was alright after that. It took a bit longer than expected, but once we went out again I had a little moment in Turn 12, and then reversing something happened with the gearbox, we still need to investigate. But these things happen, and anyway the conditions this week were not great, so hopefully next week will be a bit more sunny.

Asked if the setbacks had left any question-marks in his head about the RB14, he said: "No question-marks. We had some little hiccups, but that can happen. You don't want it to happen, but sometimes it can. Anyway the conditions the whole week actually have not been great. I hope next week will be a bit more sunny.

"[We were] checking a lot of things, the data, comparing it to the wind tunnel, and sometimes you need to really work on that was well, especially when the conditions are like this. I am alright, and I am positive."

^ Back to Top ^