Verstappen delivers spirited first impression of RB21 car

Max Verstappen has asserted his new RB21 challenger “can't be worse than last year” when asked to share his expectations of his new car.

Red Bull faced a number of difficulties during the 2024 campaign which caused it to slip back in the pecking order midway through the season.

Verstappen's strong early season form aided his run to a fourth consecutive F1 title, however Red Bull fell to third place in the constructors' table for the first time since 2019.

Speaking to media including RacingNews365, Verstappen looked back on the RB20 with disdain when asked to compare it to his new challenger.

“It can’t be worse than last year,” he said.

“I think the direction that we are working into is good, we just need to follow that and see how much we can extract.”

Red Bull endured a challenging pre-season test as it set the fewest laps of any team after running into minor gremlins during the three days.

However, Verstappen is still encouraged by the early feeling behind the wheel of the car ahead of the opening round in Australia later this month.

“At the moment, it’s really early days - a lot of things we are still discussing and wanting to improve,” he said.

“But I enjoyed it [on the opening day of testing] and that’s already a big difference to last year.”