Verstappen: Red Bull "Not Good Enough Yet to Win"

[Bethonie Waring]

Another driver has made the traditional “we’re not competitive, don’t worry about us” claim in the build up to the first round of the season in Australia.

This time the culprit is Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who doesn’t believe the team will be able to challenge for wins early in the season.

“We still have to wait and see how good we really are,” Verstappen told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

“Personally, I don’t think we can fight for the win at the moment. Much can change during the course of the season, but we are not good enough yet to win.”​

The statement is a little more believable than the claims from Ferrari and Mercedes as they try to play down their pre-season testing pace.

Red Bull’s RB13 was the fourth fastest car at Barcelona, behind the two manufacturer teas and Williams. Whilst it’s expected Red Bull will be more competitive than Williams, Verstappen believes the team have a lot of work to do before they can challenge Ferrari and Mercedes on track. The Dutchman hopes the team can develop over the course of the season, as they did last year, to close the gap he expects to have to the front runners.

“Clearly, Ferrari took a step forward from last year,” he said. “Mercedes will always be right there – I think they probably sandbagged a bit. It’s been that way for the last couple of years.

“For us, it is hard to tell where we are. Personally, I don’t think we are the best team yet, but we will have to wait and see.​

“After qualifying in Australia, we will know our pure performance. We won’t be going there with the idea we can go for pole.”​

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Where do you think Red Bull will fall in the pecking order in Australia? Do you think they’ll take a win in the first half of the season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

 

[Blimey]

I really hope Williams will be at least 3rd place car this year.

 

[Nick Gregory]

Max says "we won't be competitive".

Sure...

And then watch Red Bull act all surprised if they find their car is perfectly capable of staying at the sharp end of the grid.

 

[James Cook]

Nothing to see here, move along...

 

[Nick Hill]

This is as old as racing itself - drivers have a vested interest in making their car sound as inferior as possible.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I hope Maxie is wrong

 

[Frank Finch]

Nothing sensible can be said until Red Bull reveal their aero pack. I wouldn't be surprised if they are right up there with Mercedes and Ferrari.

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

Honda's engine woes have really distracted people from those Renault engines problems

 

[Mark Greenall]

I really hope Williams will be at least 3rd place car this year.

I think you have a shout.

 

[Mark Greenall]

Honda's engine woes have really distracted people from those Renault engines problems

Which? Redhill say Renault has surpassed expectations. I think RBR will be up there in q3

 

[Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham]

Which? Redhill say Renault has surpassed expectations. I think RBR will be up there in q3

It's called unreliability mate. It's that thing that causes you not to run. Renault teams had quite a few engine issues across testing, with Toro Rosso even doing less laps than McLaren in the first week

 

[Mark Aalberts]

The only problem Renault had was some issues with the MGU-K , from which I understand some insulation problems (whatever that means). They where aware of it and on-track testing increased the problem a bit, but they know what the problem is and expect a solution for Melbourne. The engine itself has exceeded their targets but of course Ferrari en Mercedes are not sitting still either. Renault has an estimated + 0.5 to 0.7 of a second in it over the first few races.

I don't think they will be far behind, if they can stay within 0.5 to 0.7 of a second in Q next weekend the season is going to be very interesting this year. I expect RBR to catch up towards the end of the season.

Just a couple of days and we know a little bit more.