F1 | Red Bull, Verstappen: “The Mercedes seem very fast”

Max Verstappen finished third on the first day of testing in Melbourne. The Dutch driver immediately felt comfortable with the new RB15, and the feeling found on the Albert Park track was immediately positive. There is still work to be done and the gap with the leaders still seems to be very high, but the Dutchman doesn't make any dramas.

“I'm quite happy with what we did today, the feeling is quite good – said Verstappen. Of course, there are always areas to improve and we are not fast enough, but it is only the first day of the season and there is a long way to go. It seems like the Mercedes are very fast and they seem to be okay with the overall balance. Overall, the car performed well on the Medium and Soft tyres, but we still need to fully understand the compounds. My run was a little different to other times in terms of preparation, there is definitely a lot of work on the lap time. We will see the data this evening to understand what we can improve, but on the engine side there were no problems and everything went well. We didn't have any particular expectations for today, it was nice to start."