Verstappen: Red Bull form can deliver 'early start' in 2020

Aston Martin Red Bull's Max Verstappen believes Red Bull can carry its current form into next year and hit the ground running in Melbourne next March.

Verstappen and his team displayed consistency in the early part of the 2019 season but fell short of being able to challenge Mercedes for race wins.

Gradually however, the bulls gained momentum, rewarding the Dutchman with a couple of wins in Austria and Germany.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit under-performed relative to Ferrari and Mercedes thereafter before Verstappen beat his front-running rivals fair and square in Brazil.

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"We learned a lot throughout the whole season," Verstappen told Sky Sports News at a Red Bull event in Abu Dhabi GP. "What went well and what we did wrong or didn't do so well.

"We'll try to work over the winter of course to try and make everything better, the whole package."

Red Bull has typically been slow to ramp up its performance after the start of a season, but Verstappen is confident his team will be able to challenge for race wins from the outset in 2020.

"You can clearly see throughout the end of the year now [Red Bull have been strong]. Of course, in general we have always been like that, but I really have a lot of confidence that it's not just now.

"I think we can really transform that into an early start next year. That's at least the target."

Is a genuine title challenge therefore finally in the cards for Red Bull and Verstappen next season?

"That's what we are going for," said the 22-year-old charger. "You never know, so it's 50-50. It's yes or no.

"Now one more race to go so we'll try to have a good weekend and try to finish it off with good feelings going into the winter break."

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