Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has warned the team's rivals that the Austrian outfit's issues from last season have significantly improved, to the extent that they could even be "fixed".
Max Verstappen set the third quickest time on the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, whilst Liam Lawson was eighth on the timesheets.
At the start of the opening day, questions were quickly asked whether Red Bull's 2025 challenger – the RB21 – is actually any different to its predecessor.
On the outside, Red Bull's new car looked a spitting image of what the team ran last year, much to Marko's amusement.
"But this is not the first race yet huh, maybe things will change," Marko laughed to Motorsport.com.
It was a very positive first day for the Milton Keynes-based outfit, with Verstappen even be the quickest driver over long runs.
"The long runs were very competitive," added Marko. "Max was even the fastest in those. The car is more predictable and reacts in a normal way.
"All the problems we had last year have been greatly improved or even fixed."
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McLaren fast
The improvements to Red Bull's new car has left Verstappen very pleased, with Marko revealing that the 27-year-old already feels comfortable in the RB21.
"He says the car is more complex and feels more like one," added the 81-year-old. "And whatever they change about the car, the car always responds well to it.
"During his fastest lap, Max had a small moment, so he could have been even faster. But the long runs were very impressive and the tyre wear also looked good."
Verstappen was behind Lando Norris and George Russell on the timesheets, with his McLaren rival having been the fastest driver on the opening day.
McLaren looked very impressive, as did Mercedes, whilst Marko was surprised by Ferrari not being as strong as he expected.
"McLaren was very consistent and fast," Marko identified. "The same goes for Mercedes. Ferrari was a bit disappointing, we expected more from them.
"But anyway, of course there are still two days to go."
He continued: "It is much colder, maybe that is also immediately why Mercedes is so fast."
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