Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez put in their final laps ahead of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship on Sunday, with the season kicking off in just two weeks’ time at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Friday afternoon (March 12) saw Red Bull hit the ground running, with Max Verstappen topping the timesheets behind the wheel of the RB16B completing 139 laps at the Bahrain International Circuit.
By day two it was clear that there is major speed in that RB16B, with a final lap time for Sergio Perez of 1:32.478s, marking the third fastest lap of Saturday’s morning session.
The final day of preseason testing saw Perez lock in the fastest lap of the morning, followed by Verstappen topping the final timesheet of the weekend on the C4 Pirellis after completing 64 laps.
Speaking about his final stint in the RB16B before the start of the season Checo said:
“It’s crazy to think that pre-season has already finished, it feels like it only just started. I think this is the shortest pre-season ever in my career!
“There’s a very limited amount of running and testing but we managed to work through a lot of set-up options and are improving every time we get into the car. I’m very excited about the season and I think we’ve got a good car underneath us but I still have a lot to learn in the car to get the maximum out of it.
“The Team is doing a fantastic job. It doesn’t really matter where we start in Bahrain, it matters where we finish in Abu Dhabi.
“Now we just want to look forward to the race weekend. We’re going to take it step by step and be patient in the beginning and then things will come to us.”
After his final outing, Max said; “It was another good day and we got through the whole programme.
“conditions were a bit different today one so we had to adjust the car a bit as we went along but from our side, it was very smooth, as it has been throughout the whole test.
“I think we can say it has been a good weekend but of course that doesn’t give you any guarantees and all teams are doing different programmes at testing.
“We always look into what we can improve and for sure there are still things we want to work on but I think all teams will have that.
“We’ll find out for sure in a couple of weeks in Q3 where we really are but in general I would say the car feels good and I’m looking forward to going racing.”
