Will Red Bull be the surprise of the 2020 season?
Although we never have seen both Red Bull drivers on the softest compound through the pre-testing season, what does the RB16 hiding for us?
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Red Bull's Max Verstappen was only second-fastest at the final pre-season testing of the 2020 season. Verstappen set 1:16.269, only 0.073s off Bottas' best.
Red Bull insisted not to use C4 and C5 for both their drivers Alexander Albon and Max Verstappen and we can tell the reason might be to not unveiling the true pace of the new RB16 for 2020 season.
Anyhow, today at the last testing day was the first time Verstappen was on C4 for the first time since Red bull started their testing program only when fifty minutes of the session remained and set the second-fastest behind Merced's Valterri Bottas who was on C5. How fast Verstappen would be if they let him take a flying lap on C5 at Barcelona circuit? the answer will come during the season. the RB16 looks good.
"I definitely feel ready for Melbourne," said Verstappen, "and the last two weeks have been a good preparation.
"We tried everything we wanted to over the six days which is very important from our side, so I'm happy with that. Overall, I can't complain but that doesn't mean we should stop the hard work and there are always things to improve.
"No car is ever perfect, especially at this stage in the season, so we will keep pushing to make improvements. Me and Alex had a few moments but I'm not worried and I want to find the limit of the car in testing instead of at the first race. It's better this way rather than being caught out and realizing there is more pace in the car in Melbourne.
"Mercedes also look very fast as expected but I don't really look too much at them as nobody knows exactly what they are doing, so it's better to focus on ourselves. Overall I think the pace looks pretty good, it's been a positive start and I hope it's enough to be competitive in Melbourne."
On the other hand, Alex Albon has completed 59 laps this morning, great preparation from the Austrian outfit which gives them more much-needed data for Melbourne and beyond.
"It's been a really solid and smooth six days of testing," added Albon. "We've pushed the mileage and completed a lot of laps, testing and experimenting with a lot of development parts and everything is looking good.
"We have a lot of data to look through but we now have more of an understanding of the car and we've definitely found some good things, so it's been a positive test.
"Mercedes are clearly very quick and there's more to see from Ferrari, so it's hard to know for sure where everyone stands at this point.
"We've been happy with the car since day one and it felt strong from the first lap, but we won't know where we are until we get to Melbourne. I can't believe it's already time to go racing, I'm excited and now I can't wait to get out there."
