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Max Verstappen excited for special Red Bull milestone as 'real test' awaits

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

F1 News

15:01, 04 Mar

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byKada Sarkozi

Max Verstappen looks forward to the opening round of the F1 season with great excitement.

"When it was finally time to come back and see the car ready to go, I did get goosebumps. Now is the real test.'

- Max Verstappen

The Formula 1 campaign begins this week in Melbourne, Australia, where GPblog will also be on site.

After the shakedown in Barcelona and two pre-season tests in Bahrain, teams will hit the track for the first time in a Grand Prix weekend. As a result, the new in-house Red Bull Ford power unit will make its Grand Prix debut.

Looking ahead, Verstappen said: "It will be great to be back on track and start up the season, it has felt like a long build up to this point and it is exciting to finally get out racing again.

"In Bahrain, seeing the car with our own power unit getting in so many laps was very impressive; there were a lot of proud faces seeing it go out for the first time and the Team have done a great job.

The RB22 of Max Verstappen - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

'Real test' starts now

The Dutchman continued: "We’ve been driving the car in the simulator for such a long time, so when it was finally time to come back and see the car ready to go, I did get goosebumps. Now is the real test.

"Looking to Melbourne, I don’t know how it is all going to play out, but we have been learning a lot and working on optimising the car as best we can.

"Obviously, this track has many great memories for me, especially driving my first ever F1 race here. But this year will be a particularly exciting challenge and I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes."

The Dutchman was previously critical of the new generation of cars, calling them 'Formula E on steroids'. Former F1 driver Riccardo Patrese found Verstappen's words concerning. Find out more here!