New Red Bull engine gets 'strong' seal of approval amid Wolff's benchmark claim

During the first week of the Bahrain pre-season test, Mercedes team principal and CEO Toto Wolff said that Red Bull was the benchmark. "Look at their energy deployment today. I mean, speaking a second a lap, over consecutive runs," he said.

Reacting to the Wolff's claims, Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson explained that he has been happy with the new Red Bull Ford engine so far.

Speaking to GPblog, the New Zealander was surprised after first hearing Wolff's verdict: "One second faster than everybody?"

He continued: "We'll find out in Melbourne honestly. At the moment, honestly, the power unit's working very, very well, which is good, but in terms of performance numbers, it is so hard to tell because we have no idea what anybody else is doing."

While he is unsure about the possibility of having a one-second gap, Lawson continued to praise the team's first in-house engine, built in collaboration with Ford.

"Yes, I think on the performance side, we definitely think it's strong. I wouldn't say it's one-second faster than everybody but we'll find out pretty soon. Yes, all OK so far," he concluded.