MELBOURNE, Australia — Max Verstappen is refusing to make predictions ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix this weekend, but is concerned Melbourne’s straights may prove to be Red Bull’s weakness.
Defending champions Mercedes are expected to start the season as the team to beat in Melbourne, but many observers are convinced Red Bull is also in the running for victory. GPS data from pre-season testing showed the new RB14 was the fastest car in medium speed corners during testing and was only losing performance to its rivals on the straights.
What’s more, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton suspects Red Bull did not run its Renault engine in its highest setting during testing and has tipped the team to perform well this weekend. Yet Verstappen is still wary of his car’s weaknesses.
« We have to wait and see, » he said. « The car compared to last year, it’s definitely made some good improvements. For sure everybody also improved but from my personal feeling we have quite a strong car.
« But we have to wait and see how good our overall package is with the straights here. It is definitely going to be a bit painful there. For sure I am optimistic but also realistic, so we will just have to wait and see. »
Asked if Renault’s engine was the only thing holding Red Bull back this year, Verstappen added: « And the development of the car during the season. We have to be on top of that as well compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.
« Honestly I am very neutral. I can say a lot of stories right now but also I don’t know because we not even driven one practice session. We have to wait and see. There are a lot of questions from me also, so we just to discover everything on track. »
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/22866024/melbourne-straights-painful-red-bull
