Max Verstappen admits Red Bull have ‘work to do’ as pre-season testing concludes

Max Verstappen shared mixed feelings after pre-season testing came to an end at the Bahrain International Circuit on Friday, saying there is “still a bit of work to do” for Red Bull.

Off the back of new team mate Liam Lawson’s double sessions yesterday, Verstappen took over for the final morning and afternoon outings in the Sakhir desert aboard the RB21 challenger.

The reigning four-time World Champion ended the day second on the timesheets, 0.021s away from Mercedes’ George Russell, with 81 laps to his name.

“I think we had a decent day today,” Verstappen commented afterwards. “There were a few little problems, but overall, we completed quite a bit of what we wanted to do.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 28: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull — Verstappen ended the third and final day of pre-season testing in second place on the timesheets

“I think it wasn’t bad, but at the same time there is still a bit of work to do. However, it is what we expected and we will keep on working and keep on trying to improve and, hopefully, as we go into [the first Grand Prix in] Melbourne, we will learn a bit more by going through all the data and see where we are at.

“It is difficult to tell where everyone’s pace is, so there is still a bit of work to do for us. We are looking forward to starting racing properly again in Australia.”

AS IT HAPPENED: All the action from Day 3 of 2025 pre-season testing in Bahrain

Red Bull’s Technical Director, Pierre Wache, shared a similar assessment following lengthy spells in the garage where mechanics carried out various changes to the car.

“It was not as smooth a test as we expected and the team expected, but it is better to find some problems here than later down the line and it is why we are here, to understand the car,” he said.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - FEBRUARY 28: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing — Verstappen will start his title defence at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix

“The weather was not with us and not very representative of this track, but we tried to explore the potential of the car and tried to understand how it responds to different set-ups, and I think we more or less achieved that.

“I think it’s very difficult to see a starting order for Melbourne across the grid right now. You see that four teams look quite quick, including us, but we didn’t look too much at other teams, we tried to focus on our programme.

“I am not as happy as I could be because the car did not respond how we wanted at times, but it is going in the right direction, just maybe the magnitude of the direction was not as big as we expected, and it’s something we need to work on for the first race and future development.”

Verstappen will begin his title defence in a fortnight’s time when the Dutchman and the rest of the grid gather for the Australian Grand Prix from March 14-16.