Max Verstappen is excited about the developments Red Bull have made over the winter as the youngster looks to challenge Mercedes champion Lewis Hamilton for the F1 world title this season. While the Brit claimed his sixth-title last season, the Dutchman feels his team have closed the gap in the off-season.
Hamilton claimed the title with races to spare last season and while his closest rival was his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Verstappen pushed hard to secure third spot in the drivers standings.
The 22-year-old recently committed his long-term future to Red Bull and he is confident Honda will continue to progress the development of their engine package throughout the 2020 season.
“I think throughout the winter now, [Honda] made some really good steps,” Verstappen said.
And his words were echoed by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who revealed Honda were pleased with their engine development over the winter.
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“They’ve done plenty of mileage on their dynos.
“We’ve obviously been working very closely with them and the integration of the engine into the chassis.
“They share that motivation and desire of competitiveness and to really build on the three wins that they achieved last year, and all the other stuff that came with it.
“They’re very, very focused on making that next step.
“The turnaround that they’ve achieved has been phenomenal, when you consider where they were five years ago to where they are now.
“That’s hugely impressive.”
The news will be a boost for Red Bull, as Mercedes and Ferrari have experienced some issues with the development of their new cars for this season.
While the Silver Arrows recently announced they are “fighting a few little issues”, Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto revealed the Prancing Horse are expecting to sacrifice straight-line speed as they put a greater emphasis on cornering this year.
Ferrari are due to be the first team to unveil their new car on February 11, with Red Bull’s coming a day later and Mercedes expected to reveal theirs on February 14.
F1 teams don’t have to wait much longer before being able to test out their new cars as pre-season testing in Spain begins in less than two weeks.
The six days of testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is split into two parts, with the first three-day session commencing on February 19 and the second taking place between February 26 to 28.
And while Verstappen was impressed with how the car felt at the end of last season he is hoping the team have made bigger improvements in the off-season.
“I think towards the end of the year, it looked very competitive,” he said.
“I think we were pretty close to Mercedes, as you can see, Brazil for example, the drag race between Pierre [Gasly] and Lewis.
“With Ferrari, I don’t know. I think there’s still a bit ahead of us.
“But I think throughout the winter now, [Honda] made some really good steps.
“We’ll find out what the others have done, because they will also improve, and I hope we made bigger steps than them.”