Verstappen indicates McLaren is "clearly at the front"

Following an impressive showing from McLaren during the three-day pre-season testing, reigning world champion Max Verstappen indicates that McLaren are clearly at the front based on the running in Sakhir.

Verstappen ended the last day of pre-season testing in second spot, but his RB21 generated a series of issues across the three days of winter testing. Reliability issues prevented the team from completing a race simulation, while the team also struggled to find the right setup.

Asked about the pecking order, Verstappen noted that the early signs indicate that McLaren have managed to carry over their dominant form from the second half of the past season.

"I don't think we can fight for the win already in Melbourne,” the Red Bull driver said, although he admitted that “everything [on the RB21] can be set up a little bit better in Melbourne than in Bahrain”.

“At the moment only one, and that team is orange! That's a very nice colour of course, but from our side, we still have work to do. Other teams want to see some improvements as well, I think, so at the moment one team is clearly in front.

“If you look at the lap times, then I think McLaren is the favourite. On our side, not everything went completely smoothly, but on the other hand we have some ideas on how to improve.”

After Red Bull's technical director Pierre Wache and Red Bull's motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko admitted that the team has not achieved it expectations with the new RB21, the Dutch driver echoed their words.

Verstappen reported that the new car has generated a better balance, but there are still some limitations with the RB21 that are similar to what the Austro-British squad experienced last year.

“In terms of balance, it does feel a bit more connected when entering the corners and also in the middle of the corners. But on the other hand, there are still problems with the kerbs and with the bumps."