Red Bull Racing has logical explanation for relatively few laps for Verstappen

Red Bull Racing can leave the Bahrain circuit with their head held high. During two of the three test days they were fastest, did a lot of laps without any problems and had enough time to try out different things.

"Both sessions today were identical in terms of run plan. As opposed to the first couple of days, today was more about trying to optimise the car and understand where we’re going, so shorter runs, more set-up items, a bit more time in the garage," said chief race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin.

That immediately explains why Max Verstappen drove only 64 laps on Sunday afternoon, while Yuki Tsunoda managed 91 laps in the same timeframe. Over the whole day Red Bull also drove 113 laps, but that was possible because of the progress that had already been made over the past few days.

'Three days will never be enough'

"We were still doing some development work but also really getting the crew and the drivers up to speed in terms of procedures and pit stops. It was a similar plan for both drivers and similar results for both. Overall, this has been a positive test phase.

"Three days are never going to be enough; I don’t think anyone would say they are, but in terms of the time available, what we got out of this test was very useful. We’ve got a really good base to build from and we’re looking forward to coming back to Bahrain in a couple of weeks," he added.