Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen has revealed his excitement ahead of Saturday's qualifying session in Bahrain, despite still being unsure of just how good his Red Bull RB18 is.
Both Mercedes and Ferrari have identified Red Bull as one of the teams to beat in Bahrain, with Lewis Hamilton having described their new car as "ridiculously fast".
Verstappen has admitted that the season ahead holds plenty of unknowns, with the first being how quick his RB18 car really is in comparison to the competition.
Verstappen keen to see how good the RB18 really is
"I'm looking forward to seeing where we are compared to the rest of the grid come qualifying on Saturday," Verstappen has said.
"The car looks good and as a team we are in a good place.
"The most important thing for us in Bahrain is to have a stable weekend, without too many issues, and we hope to score a good amount of points."
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"We learnt a lot at testing in Barcelona and Bahrain," Verstappen continued.
"I'm very excited to turn our attention to racing now. It's a whole new era for the sport and anything can happen.
"The focus is to bring the grid together and make it easier to follow – I hope we see that in the first race.
"Everything is so new so there are a lot of unknowns heading into the first race of the season."
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Sergio
Pérez
Fernando
Alonso
Lewis
Hamilton
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Alfa Romeo
