Verstappen had clear goal: 'We didn't focus on pure lap times'

While Max Verstappen impressed on the first day of testing in Bahrain by driving more than a second away from the rest of the Formula 1 field, Red Bull Racing chose a different strategy on the final day. The focus was on the long runs and not on leading the timesheet, the Dutchman indicated after the final day of the winter test in Bahrain.

Verstappen and Red Bull went for longruns in Bahrain

In the end, it was Charles Leclerc who finished the final day fastest, ahead of George Russell and Guanyu Zhou. They all drove their fastest times on soft tyres, while Verstappen continued to drive on mediums. The Dutchman was, however, the fastest driver on the yellow tyre.

"Today we made the plan to not focus on pure lap time. I think it was more important just to get the long running done and get a bit more of an understanding of the car. So we focused on that program and to be honest, I think it all looked quite positive. I'm quite happy with the car, how it was behaving," the defending champion said about his final test session.

"And then, you know, when we head into the race weekend, it's about fine tuning the balance around the circumstances that you face throughout that weekend," he added. Asked who he expects as his closest competitors, Verstappen says he is not concerned with that. "I just look at what we are doing here," he said.

"I think there's of course always a lot of work to do. You always want to do better, but I think we had a very positive test and we learned a lot from every single thing that we changed on the car. And we also know what we want to do for next week. And that's what we'll focus on," Verstappen concluded.