Red Bull ‘really confident’ Verstappen will crush Mercedes and Ferrari

Chris Evans says Max Verstappen needs to 'be a bit nicer'

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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko admitted that the team is “confident” in Max Verstappen and their new car can defeat Mercedes and Ferrari to claim their third consecutive world championship this season. Following the first day of F1’s pre-season testing, the Dutchman finished at the top of the standings after completing 157 laps – the most of any driver in Bahrain.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was second, 0.029 seconds behind Verstappen while Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari claimed third and fourth respectively. Hamilton took sixth place after completing 83 laps but was pipped to fifth by Lando Norris of McLaren.

After setting the fastest time, Verstappen gave plenty of confidence to Marko in their bid to claim a hat-trick of titles. “We believe in Max who is still improving, is nursing the tyres even more, so we look really confident for the championship,” Marko told RacingNews365. “I think we are in a good shape but I believe it will be tighter compared to last year, our main competitors [are] as usual Ferrari and Mercedes.”

It has not been plain sailing for Red Bull in the build-up to the new season, however, having a handicap on their wind tunnel usage, partly owing to their status as Constructors’ Champions. They will need to bring upgrades and Marko believes that after four races, his side will be competing at the top of the standings.

“It’s a handicap but our engineers are [working] knowing that they are restricted,” he explained. “What we are doing and what we are bringing [to the track] has more or less to work. There’s no room for experiments or risk. Everything is working fine and we think after the first major upgrade, in race four, we should still be competitive.”

Marko noted that both Mercedes and Ferrari have had “smaller problems” on show during testing, as Carlos Sainz’s car was spotted porpoising around turn 12 as fears were raised that last year’s issues still remain. While Hamilton appears to be defying a strict FIA rule by continuing to break the governing body’s jewellery ban.

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“We have seen both of them have smaller problems, but I’m sure with all their experience they will sort it out,” Marko added. “We have seen a very good outing from our team. Everything was working straight away, it didn’t have any major problems.

“Every lap we are achieving some improvements, so far we are really happy and indeed we are more competitive than we were last year to start off.”

His comments are at odds with Sergio Perez’s, however, as the Mexican admitted that the new RB19 had “some problems” during the first day of testing.

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