Max Verstappen has put the pressure on himself to deliver his best performance straight away when the 2021 Formula 1 season gets underway this weekend in Bahrain. The Dutchman reiterates Mercedes remain favourites for the title despite their struggles in pre-season testing. Verstappen had a near-perfect test in Bahrain, completing 203 laps and setting the fastest time of the event during the final hour of testing on the C4 soft tyre compound. He believes Red Bull definitely have a chance to end the Mercedes reign this year. "I know people are excited and think we are just saying this, but Mercedes are still the favourites – how can they not be when they have won seven world championships in a row," said Verstappen. "I’m sure Mercedes also want people to think we are the favourites and put the pressure on us but we are just focussed on ourselves "I see every season as a new opportunity to beat them, but we would be stupid to expect that fight to be easy and look at testing and think we are ahead. Honda have introduced a brand-new power for their final season in the sport and it has ran with very few issues so far. Changes to the internal combustion engine, ERS and turbine have been made in an attempt to close the straight line speed deficit to Mercedes who were the benchmark performers on the straights last year. Verstappen is eager to run the Honda power unit at full pelt in qualifying. "I personally can't wait until we are all pushing in Q3," added Verstappen. "That is when you will see everyone at full power with low fuel and that is the time to see who developed performance wise and then in the race we will see who can keep that performance over a race distance. Let’s hope we can be good at both. "Now I have to deliver and the Team have to deliver so we can try and mount a title fight. We all know our roles and it’s good to see Honda and ExxonMobil have been pushing hard over the winter to make sure we have the best possible package in the RB16B for the season."
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