Ex-F1 driver Jolyon Palmer believes the Red Bull F1 team will have more surprises in store during the pre-season test in Bahrain. The former Renault driver believes the Milton Keynes team have been the most secretive about their true performance potential in the Barcelona test.
Speaking on F1’s official YouTube channel, Palmer said:
“[Red Bull] seem to be in a decent overall position, even if they acknowledge there is plenty more to do with the car. But as yet, I’d say they’ve maybe kept the most hidden of any teams – so they will be well worth watching in Bahrain.”
Milton Keynes’ team’s overall performance placed them behind Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes in terms of mileage. However, when it came to the raw pace of the car, their drivers masked the true potential of the car by attempting their timed laps on harder compounds. Team CEO Christian Horner has confirmed there is more to come from them as a team in the next test.
Red Bull senior confirmed the team were sandbagging in Barcelona
From their performances over three days, it was learned that the Milton Keynes squad seemed to be in a completely different zone of their own, with their focus purely on testing the car and experimenting with different concepts.
However, senior Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko confirmed the team were running heavy fuel loads and were on par with rivals Mercedes.
Speaking to German broadcaster RTL, Marko said:
“In terms of speed we are not inferior to Mercedes and we are slightly ahead of Ferrari.”
Many in the paddock, including Palmer, believe that the quadruple world champions’ will have more rabbits to pull out of their hats, come Bahrain. Marko’s confirmation that their team were sandbagging is a teller of what comes ahead in the next test.
With the new regulations, it is vitally important to understand the car and develop it further, therefore the real race-spec RB18 will be unveiled in Bahrain and will be significantly different from the current one seen in Barcelona.
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