Verstappen Hails ‘Positive’ Testing

Max Verstappen feels Bahrain testing has been “positive” and has allowed Red Bull to work on issues affecting the cars this season.

Verstappen sits third in the standings behind Mercedes duo Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton after what he described himself as a lucky fourth-place finish in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Dutchman ended up third in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, while team-mate Pierre Gasly has struggled in collecting just four points from two races.

Despite nearly making the podium last time out, there were issues throughout the race for Verstappen but he enjoyed a decent day of in-season testing at the same venue on Tuesday, topping the time sheets.

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The youngster knows there is a long way to go but felt the team will have benefitted in their quest to solve outstanding issues. “It was a little bit wet, which is strange, but overall I think we had a good day,” he said. “We managed to get in a lot of laps to help us understand more about our performance over the race weekend and I think we’ve already learned a lot, so that’s very positive.

“We don’t get that many days to really understand the car and during a race weekend it all goes by so quickly, so days like today are very helpful. “We knew what didn’t work over the weekend in terms of rear-end grip, so we tried to work on that and I think we learned a lot.”