Carlos Sainz has hailed Red Bull's performance on the opening day of the first pre-season test in Bahrain as "mighty impressive" and believes they are "a clear step" ahead of their F1 rivals.
Sainz enjoyed his own productive outing as Williams took to the track for the first time after it was forced to miss the private five-day shakedown at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
The Spanish driver completed 77 laps in the pre-lunch session before handing over the car to team-mate Alex Albon, who added another 68 laps of his own.
Sainz, though, watched the RB22 in Verstappen's hands complete 136 laps, whilst the four-time F1 champion was at the top of the times for a considerable period before being deposed late on.
It was Verstappen's long-run pace, though, that caught the eye as he conjured typically metronomic lap times, quicker than any driver so far, given the major change to the regulations, that even Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said Red Bull were "the benchmark".
Asked whether he agreed with that assessment, he replied: "It's still extremely early days, but judging by the GPS data of yesterday, right now, it is true that whatever Red Bull Ford Powertrains were doing yesterday was a clear step ahead of anyone else. A clear step. Not a small step, but a clear step.
"It was mighty impressive. If they turn up to race one, with a completely new set of regulations, a completely new engine, new people, with the fastest and most reliable engine, you will have to take your hat off to them for what they've come up with.
"At least what they were showing yesterday was very, very impressive."
Williams back after 'bump in the road'
Sainz was at least happy to be back on track after being forced to sit out the Barcelona shakedown.
Team principal James Vowles remarked that the car had run "faultlessly" during a filming day on Tuesday, and it continued in that fashion on its first full day in action.
Describing missing Barcelona as "frustrating", Sainz added: "Obviously, I'm not going to hide away from the fact that I would have loved to have been in Barcelona to get those three days, get a head start.
"It was always going to be the plan, but unfortunately, during the winter, we faced some issues, some bumps in the road, that we didn't expect as a team, and we had to readapt our plan and do the best we could with what we had.
"To then turn up in Bahrain and have a smooth day like yesterday, at least, sends the message back that we did it for a reason, and that now we are running smoothly and trying to catch up with the others."
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