Verstappen: “A good start, there is still a lot of work to do to understand the engine”

The words of the Dutchman Max Verstappen was unable to make the most of the morning session on Tuesday morning due to the rain, but yesterday in the full day spent at the wheel of the Red Bull RB22 he covered 118 laps. The power unit created on the Milton Keynes-Detroit axis in collaboration with Ford, at least from a reliability point of view, has so far given excellent guarantees and this can only be good news for a first-time engine engineer. Verstappen feared that in Barcelona there would be more time in the garage than on the track, but instead he was able to clock up the kilometres. “It was nice to be back on track this week – said Max Verstappen – the first morning I was in the car I couldn’t do many laps due to the weather, but Friday went well. We did a lot of laps and that was the key, we learned a lot and there are, obviously, still a lot of things we want to explore further, but it’s a good start. So much work has been put into this power unit in recent years and to then see it fitted into the car and, on the first day, do so many laps straight away was fantastic. There were a lot of excited faces in the garage and it was really special. Everything is still a work in progress, but we have started quite well. We need time to understand the engine and make changes to the set-up, we need to try to get as many laps as possible and try as many things as possible during the day. I think we are succeeding and that is the aim of this Shakedown and what we will continue to do.