Max Verstappen reveals Red Bull experiments in giant F1 learning curve

Max Verstappen has revealed how Red Bull spent the first day of the Bahrain winter tests conducting experiments with its new power unit. 

For the first time, Red Bull has become a power unit manufacturer with its own in-house Red Bull Powertrains-Ford design, which is being used across both Red Bull-backed teams.

Although Arvid Lindblad suffered a lost afternoon after a gremlin struck, Verstappen completed a field-high 136 laps, posting the second fastest time, being knocked off top spot by world champion Lando Norris with 78 minutes remaining in the session.

Verstappen will be next in the RB22 on Friday as Isack Hadjar gets the full day today, as the four-time world champion explained how Red Bull was conducting experiments rivals such as Mercedes and Ferrari have long held knowledge of.

"We had a good day, we got in a lot of laps and tested different programmes," Verstappen explained.

"Red Bull Ford Powertrains is still a completely new project, compared to others, so there is so much to keep learning and figuring out ahead of the first race. We went through a lot of testing procedures that we might run into during a race weekend: this might be more straightforward for a Power Unit manufacturer who has been in the game a long time, but when you are new, you need to test it all. 

"Of course, we also did a lot of normal running. Everyone is running completely different programmes, so we are not focusing on lap times and the standings, but instead focusing on understanding the car and the tyres.

"It is a completely different track compared to Barcelona, so it is good to have that comparison. 

"Looking at the day, it was all okay, and we didn’t run into trouble, which was the most important thing, so I can now look to Friday for what else we can learn."