Max Verstappen insisted that he wasn't worried about a reported oil leak on the Red Bull that cut down his track time on his final day of pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit on Friday.
Having been in the car for the whole of Thursday and completing a whopping 157 laps in a trouble-free first day's outing for the RB19, it was a slightly more subdued story for the reigning world champion on Friday.
Sergio Perez had been in the race seat in the morning, with Verstappen taking over after the midday break. But the suspected oil leak meant that the team had to take the floor off the car to address the problem.
It reduced Verstappen's running time to just 47 laps, although the car was still swift enough to put him into second place on the day's timesheets and was just four hundredths of a second behind Zhou Guanyu.
However the Alfa Romeo was running on the softest available Pirelli compound at the time while Verstappen remained on the medium tyres, meaning that Red Bull weren't worried about being pipped to the top spot.
"We had a small teething issue, which whilst minor, cost us some track time," was as far as the team's head of race engineering Gianpiero Lambiase would be drawn on the matter.
"This is why we come testing, to avoid these problems when it counts," he pointed out. "But from Max’s short outings today, we know we are honing in on a package ahead of the race [next week]."
“Today we focussed on the smaller details and took little steps," picked up Verstappen. "The car was responding well to everything we did. We learnt a lot for next weekend and of course for future races as well.
"I’m very pleased with the testing period, every time I jumped in the car I felt comfortable and could push instantly. A massive credit to everyone back at the factory, working throughout the whole of winter and even last year to prepare the car we have now.
"To see it on track and how it behaves on track is great. We’ll have to see how quick we will be next week but I’m feeling positive.”
Verstappen has now completed his time in the car for now, leaving Perez flying solo on Saturday for the final day of the pre-season test.
"Checo settled in to the RB19 nicely with positive feedback," said Lambiase. "His focus was on stabilised running, signing off multiple critical procedural and systems checks.
"He has a strong platform from which to build upon tomorrow for a full day in the car," after the Mexican completed 76 laps before lunch, albeit only fast enough for 14th overall.
“I was happy to be back behind the wheel of the RB19 this morning," he said. "We mainly focussed on the long run, to make sure the car was reliable and that was the main priority.
"The car feels good, we have a good pace and hopefully we can get some good fine tuning in on Saturday.
"There are little differences to the RB18, which are mainly dictated by the change to the tyres but generally speaking it is pretty similar. I am happy in the car and I think we are in a good place.
"Now I am looking forward to getting a full day in the car tomorrow," he added. "We will do some good simulations for the race and try to prepare as much as possible for qualifying too.”
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