Max Verstappen gives verdict on 2023 Red Bull car after shake-down

Red Bull have taken part in a Silverstone shakedown, giving the RB19 some track time before the teams head to Bahrain.

The RB19 was unveiled at Red Bull’s season launch in New York last week, with the livery somewhat disappointing fans by being almost the exact same as last season.

While the car looking the same on the outside may be disappointing, if it has the same level of performance as the RB18, Red Bull could be in for another very successful season.

Team principal Christian Horner has admitted that some aspects of the car will look different in Bahrain, with the car being shown off in New York being a show car, designed mainly to show off the livery and launch the season.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been given some time to get to grips with the RB19 before Formula 1 travels to Bahrain for pre-season testing, with Red Bull taking part in a shakedown at Silverstone.

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These shakedowns usually give the drivers around 100km to shake off the off-season rust and adapt to their new cars before pre-season testing starts.

Red Bull shared a clip of the shakedown on social media, giving fans a very brief glimpse at the RB19 as it came flying past the camera.

Max Verstappen has claimed that the shakedown went smoothly for the team, leaving him happy so far with his 2023 challenger.

“Everything worked really well, everything worked really smooth,” he said.

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“So that’s exactly what you want from a day like this and now I’m of course very excited to go to Bahrain.”

READ: Mercedes tease 2023 car livery as return to black is expected

The Dutchman will face much sterner competition for the title this season, after having been able to cruise to his second consecutive drivers’ championship in 2022.

Mercedes and Ferrari encountered a plethora of issues under the new regulations, essentially taking them out of the title race and allowing Red Bull to win both championships with multiple races to spare.

Having now had a whole season to learn how to get the best performance and reliability out of the new set of regulations, both Mercedes and Ferrari are tipped to be serious title contenders this year, meaning that fans could be set to witness a three-way title fight for the first time in years.