New F1 Car First Laps will Decide Title Chances: Max

Aston Martin Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is undoubtedly targeting a maiden F1 title. However, he opted to remain realistic and said that his title chances is hinged on one day of testing in Red Bull Racing’s new F1 car. The 20-year-old Dutchman is currently in his fourth season of F1. He hopes that the team and engine partner Renault will be aiming to be competitive when pre-season testing begins on February 26.

Verstappen is eager to get behind the wheel of his 2018 challenger and go racing. However, he plans to utilise the pre-season testing to assess his chances of fighting at the front this season. Verstappen said, “Normally you get an impression at the very beginning of the year, but this is not the goal. The most important thing is to get reliability in testing so you can determine the driving characteristics of the new car. But you can understand if a car is good or not already in the first day of testing.”

The Red Bull team had a sluggish start to their campaign, but came good towards the end of the season. Along the way, Verstappen won in Malaysia and Mexico, while teammate Ricciardo won in Azerbaijan. The Dutchman is hoping to keep the momentum going when the season resumes in Melbourne.

He continued, “Yes, we still need to of course to wait and see how competitive we are with the new car and engine. But being a driver, you always need to have faith in yourself, I think. I’m a little more relaxed than my first seasons in Formula 1, because now I know what awaits me. But physically it’s difficult, so I still have to train very well.”

What does the 2018 season have in store for us? It will soon be time for F1 fans to wake up from the long winter and steel themselves for the new F1 car launches.