'I don't think we'll be in the fight to win in Melbourne'

Max Verstappen has played down his chances of winning the season-opening race for the third year in a row after assessing Red Bull’s performance in pre-season testing.

The reigning world champion, who won two of the final four races of last season, named McLaren as the favourites to win in Australia next week.

“There’s work to do,” Verstappen told Viaplay, with whom he has a content deal. “Looking at the lap times, I think McLaren will be the favourite.”

However he expects Red Bull to make swift progress with their new RB21 chassis. “Things didn’t run completely smoothly on our end, but we have some ideas on how to improve,” he said.

“I also spent a lot of time in the simulator, even yesterday with the team. I don’t think we’ll be in the fight for the win in Melbourne, but hopefully we can implement some improvements over the next few races.”

He echoed technical director Pierre Wache’s view that the team hadn’t made as much progress as they expected to in testing.

“It’s never good enough, of course, but maybe we expected a bit more from Bahrain. After testing, you have time to analyse the data and draw conclusions. I think things can be optimised further in Melbourne, but as I said, there are still things we need to improve.”

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One significant weakness of Red Bull’s car last year was its performance over bumpy surfaces, a trait which the temporary circuit in Albert Park will put to the test next week. Verstappen said the team still needs to improve in this area.

“In terms of balance, the car feels more ‘together’ from turn-in to mid-corner,” he explained. “But we’re still struggling with kerbs and bumps, which isn’t our strongest point. I keep emphasising that.”