Max Verstappen has said he expects Red Bull’s main challengers to be closer in the coming rounds despite his dominance of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Red Bull coasted to a 1-2 in the season opener on Sunday, with the nearest challenger to the reigning champions – Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin – 38 seconds behind Verstappen.
The result followed the widespread pre-season expectation that the RB19 was the class of the Formula 1 field.
Verstappen, who is aiming for his third F1 title in succession this year, is confident that Red Bull will not enjoy an advantage as considerable as in Bahrain at the next race in Saudi Arabia.
“Well, Saudi is quite a different track to this one,” Verstappen argued. “You have a lot more like straights, fast corners, and a lot less degradation. And I think here we were particularly good on the degradation. So I do expect in terms of race pace that everyone is closer in Jeddah.”
The Dutch racer’s comments echo those of his team principal, Christian Horner, who also predicts Red Bull to be put under more pressure than it was in the opening round.
While qualifying was close and Charles Leclerc might have snatched pole position if he conducted a second run in Q3, the Ferrari was no match for the Red Bull in the race.
After struggling throughout Friday’s practice, Verstappen hailed the blinding speed of the RB19 in race trim that was reminiscent of the potential it threatened to show in testing.
“Yeah, I mean, it was a really good race. I do think it was important to have that first stint where I could open up a gap a little bit and after that I could look after my tyres quite well,” he said.
“But also the car was working well – a bit like what we’ve seen in testing and the long runs we’ve done throughout the weekend. But you still of course need to show that in the race. You never know really what can happen to you throughout the race.
“But yeah, we were on top of things,” he continued. “And it was quite straightforward. But yeah, I think also, with all the calls and pit stops, we did a good job.”
Red Bull’s first Bahrain GP win since 2013 – and its first in the V6 turbo-hybrid engine era – marked the first time in 12 years that it has opened up the new campaign with a victory.
Before its return to title-winning ways in 2021, the Austrian outfit previously throughout the current powertrain formula had a tendency to begin a season on the back foot.
After the team also suffered a double retirement in Bahrain last year, Verstappen believes a change in approach has been the catalyst for Red Bull starting stronger in 2023.
“Well, last year was very disappointing, of course,” he began. “That normally was a P2. I do think our mentality also has changed a bit compared to a few years ago, in terms of how we are operating and how we are developing a car.
“And yeah, it’s great to finally have a car which is able to win from the start. And it also helps the car’s not so overweight. It’s perfectly fine now.”
Verstappen has warned again, however, that his Bahrain success is only the first step to defending his title and the development race will be more important with a record-breaking calendar to encounter.
“But yeah, this is a great start, but we also know that throughout the season you have to keep on developing. Of course, we are on that, but we hope of course that’s going to be more than the other teams because you have to try and keep that advantage going,” the World Champion added.
