Max Verstappen admitted he was not able to complete all his planned runs during the final morning of the pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya due to the numerous red flags that affected the session.

Despite this, the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver remained positive about the potential of the RB18, with his running being generally problem-free, with Verstappen feeling the car already has a nice balance.

Verstappen says the team has yet to start focusing on finding lap time, so it was positive to leave the day with the fourth fastest time, despite five red flags affecting the four hours of running.

“Everything worked well in the running we got and the car felt good, but our morning was somewhat interrupted by a number of red flags across the session so we couldn’t complete all of our planned programme,” said Verstappen.

“We just continued from what I did on day one and I think that was the most important objective for Barcelona. What is positive is that the car is running smoothly, I don’t pay attention to the lap times just yet, I will look into that when we get into Q3 in Bahrain.

“I just focus on doing a lot of laps and nailing down every single aspect of the car. I have really enjoyed driving the RB18 this week, it has a nice stable balance and I think it looks cool as well so it’s good to jump into.”

Verstappen says he was able to follow other cars a little easier, which is a little justification for the new regulations, but it will only be in the opening race in Bahrain where they will know for sure the rules are working.

“I think following does seem a little easier in these cars, of course we won’t know if there is any real change until race one when everyone is on the same tyres and fuel, but my initial thoughts are that I do think it’s a step forward,” he said.

“I think we have a good baseline and good potential” – Sergio Pérez

Team-mate Sergio Pérez took over the RB18 for the final afternoon in Spain and was able to set a time slightly quicker to what Verstappen managed, the Mexican ending third fastest overall.

Like his team-mate, Pérez was pleased with the progress the team has made with the RB18 during the three days of testing in Barcelona, but he will be looking for more steps when testing resumes in two weeks’ time in Bahrain.

“I think we have a good baseline and good potential,” said Pérez.  “It is obviously early days, but I am really hopeful we will make some good steps before Bahrain and keep progressing with all the information we are going to gather from Barcelona.

“It is important to keep learning from my driving and the way I am adapting to the car and my team and then what the best way will be to maximise that. I think this season the challenge will be about maximising the whole weekend under the new regulations.”

Guillaume Rocquelin, the Head of Race Engineering at Red Bull, says the three days in Spain were very promising for the team and the RB18, and they have a good platform to work with going into the three days of testing in Bahrain.

“We had a good day today, the drivers were happy and we started to put in some decent lap times,” said Rocquelin.  “To sum up the week I would say it has been a very promising few days with this new car and the most pleasing thing for me is that we have got a solid platform and direction to build from.

“We will consolidate some things that we have learnt here before Bahrain, but it is more considerate than a big step.”