Max Verstappen doesn’t want to jump the gun.
To say Red Bull had an easy victory last Sunday at the Bahrain Grand Prix would be the understatement of all understatements. Defending world champion Max Verstappen and company kicked off the 2023 F1 season with a 1-2 finish and completely decimated the field (Verstappen’s margin of victory was 26.6 seconds).
In spite of rinsing the grid to cap off a perfect weekend, Verstappen has rejected predictions of a rout and expects a far more competitive race on March 19 in Saudi Arabia.
The two-time winner remarked: “[Bahrain] is very different from Saudi. There are many more straights, quick turns, and much less deterioration.
“And I believe we did very well on the deg. here [in Bahrain]. So, I do anticipate that everyone will be closer in Jeddah in terms of race speed.”
Red Bull fared much better than Ferrari when it came to managing tyres on the extremely abrasive asphalt, and the RB19 succeeded in Bahrain in part because of its superior acceleration out of low- and medium-speed corners.
Verstappen continued, “Jeddah will change significantly once more.
“While I believe Ferrari is extremely quick on the straight, which is obviously very useful in Jeddah, our car looks to be quite powerful at high speeds.
“Only time will tell. It’s quite challenging to know. We can only speculate since we have only truly driven these cars here in Bahrain.”
According to Fanduel, Verstappen is a -320 to win the drivers’ championship, and Red Bull are a -430 to win the constructors.
See more: F1 Driver Ratings for the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix | P1 with Matt and Tommy