Max Verstappen described the handling of his Red Bull RB14 as a “big difference” compared to its predecessor, despite a disrupted first week of testing in Spain.
Unseasonably cold and wet/snowy conditions affected running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and Verstappen’s programme was further disrupted on Thursday.
Seven teams – including primary rivals Mercedes and Ferrari – racked up over a century of laps, but Verstappen amassed just 35, as he finished almost three seconds off the pace.
Red Bull opted not to run during the morning session, in which wet-weather tyres were required, and technical issues further hampered running, before Verstappen ended the day in the Turn 12 gravel.
The Dutchman, though, was ebullient over the RB14’s potential, though shared the frustration of many over this week’s lack of running.
“It is a big difference the way the car is handling, it is in a positive way,” he said.
“Today we didn’t do any performance work, but sometimes when you have conditions like that that are not ideal, it is good just try and make sure that everything is working well in terms of the data you get from the car compared to what is happening in the wind tunnel. So that is what we did.
“We have only done runs of like two laps, so I am not too worried yet.
“You know that Mercedes and Ferrari are really strong anyway. But I am quite happy with the car so far, so the second week maybe we will show a bit more how we are comparing against the rest of the teams.”
On his moment, which brought out the red flags, Verstappen said: “I had a little moment in Turn 12, and then [while] reversing something happened with the gearbox, which 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 sunnier.”
