Max Verstappen believes that Red Bull ‘are taking the fight to Mercedes’ after a strong opening round in Bahrain.
Verstappen looked set for victory after making a sweeping outside overtake on Lewis Hamilton on lap 53, only to run wide beyond track limits on the exit of turn four as he completed the move.
Red Bull instructed him to swiftly hand the lead back to avoid a post-race time penalty, with Verstappen feeling that move was his ‘one shot’ at the win, saying: “As soon as I got close enough to Lewis I had one shot and I just went outside of the track at Turn 4 so I gave the position back…”
Verstappen added that his tyres had hit the cliff and “weren’t in a good state” for the last three laps in order for him to apply pressure to Hamilton.
Verstappen also had to drive his way through a differential issue as well as an uncomfortable feeling in the cockpit, commenting; “We were having to manage a couple of issues throughout the race which I had to drive around so we will have to look into that but there are positives to take from today and the whole weekend.”
Ultimately though, Verstappen was pleased with the progress that Red Bull have made in order to be ‘taking the fight to Mercedes’ despite there still being a need to analyse where improvement can be made.
Team Principal, Christian Horner echoed those thoughts, adding; “We are all racers in this Team and to lose by such a small margin obviously hurts but the positive is that we have put in a strong performance all weekend and pushed Mercedes all the way.”
Verstappen’s new teammate – Sergio Perez meanwhile recovered from a pit-lane start to fifth after experiencing a sudden brief shutdown towards the end of the formation lap.
Perez on reflection admitted that he is “pleased” with fifth after almost failing to start the race, but was happy with his race pace and is confident that there is further potential in future races.
Explaining his formation lap issue, Perez said; “On the formation lao, all of a sudden the car shut down and I was so close to jumping out but I stayed in and somehow the car got going again which was a miracle really.”
Having gone on to complete the race, Perez is relieved to secure “important mileage under my belt” which will benefit him in what has proven to be a difficult second Red Bull car in recent seasons as Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon both discovered to their misfortune.
Perez also has vowed to deliver an improved performance in Imola, saying; “We’ve got a lot of data to analyse now so that we understand everything and make sure we come back stronger at the next race in Imola.”
Horner in particular praised Perez for his performance, adding; “He kept a cool calm head after the issue on the Formation Lap and was able to deliver a strong points haul.”
The 47 year-old also spoke of his hopes that the fact that the team were “so competitive” in Bahrain promises to be ‘a good signal for the championship.’
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