McLaren issue praise to 'impressive' Red Bull

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has admitted to being impressed by Red Bull's start to the new season following its performance at the Barcelona shakedown.

The Milton Keynes-based squad gave its debut to the DM01 power unit in Spain, built in collaboration with Ford.

While some minor issues cropped up, it was a largely successful test for the new engine manufacturer, who clocked 622 laps with both the Red Bull and sister Racing Bulls team.

The event left Brown surprised by how quickly Red Bull hit the ground running.

“I would say the Red Bull-Ford engine seems very, very strong - so hats off to them,” Brown said.

“Not only did it seem to be very quick, but also very reliable. And I would say the reliability in general seems to be very strong for very sophisticated new, immature regulations that will develop over time.

“The amount of running everyone got in was impressive.

“Those are the things that stood out - the Ford engine and the general reliability on what are very sophisticated new rules.”

McLaren enter the year looking to defend its double championship success from last year.

While Brown is confident the team will remain at the forefront of the grid, he highlighted the challenge of establishing a pecking order after testing.

“It's very early days,” he said. “It’s very risky to judge [after] Spain.

“What I would say is we feel like we'll be competitive. The top four teams all seem very competitive. It’s very early days, but indications are that we will be strong.

“It would be premature to make any predictions beyond an initial few days of testing. Obviously, things will start to become a little bit clearer over the next two weeks.”