Max Verstappen: There were surprises, but only pleasant ones

      It is not surprising that both Red Bull Racing drivers were in the top ten on the first day of testing in Bahrain. It makes sense that Max Verstappen was faster than his new team-mate, but Liam Lawson was also very positive about what he had done.

      Max Verstappen (3rd): "If we talk about driving today, it looks like everything is going well. There were surprises, but only pleasant ones, and that's good. We don't know yet what pace the car is capable of, but everything is working fine and the car is doing what I need it to do.

      Everything is under control, and at the beginning of the tests, we can only hope that things will turn out that way. There is a constant process of collecting information, we are trying different settings, and this work will continue.

      The task is not to drive a perfect lap, but to complete the planned test program and understand in which direction you need to move forward in the process of fine-tuning the car in order to achieve the desired handling from it."

      Liam Lawson (8th): "I had so much fun today, because it's so great that I'm finally piloting this new car. The impressions are not bad, although it is clear that this is only the beginning, so for now we are mainly studying the behavior of the RB21.

      Since I've changed teams, the learning process will be much more intense for me, and the most important thing for us right now is to understand the new car and try to make it work optimally. We have a test plan, and today we have fully completed the program, which is always a good thing.

      Tomorrow we will have to do a lot more laps to better understand what needs to be worked on to improve the efficiency of the car. It's hard to say what pace we're capable of compared to the others, but the driving experience is quite comfortable.

      In terms of studying RB21, testing is equally important for me and for the team, and before heading to Melbourne, it is extremely important to prepare as well as possible for the start of the season."