Red Bull have a lot still to do heading into F1 curtain raiser in Australia

Max Verstappen’s quest for a fifth straight F1 world driver’s championship begins this weekend at the season opener in Melbourne, Australia.

The new-look Red Bull Racing will be out to recapture the constructor’s championship too, lost last season to McLaren, with new driver Liam Lawson making his debut for the Tilbrook team.

While there were no unexpected hiccups in F1’s pre-season test in Bahrain, Red Bull did not appear as dominant as they had done in the last few seasons heading into the curtain raiser, something which Verstappen said the team are well aware of heading to Melbourne.

“In Bahrain, we learnt a lot from testing but there is still a lot more work to be done,” he said. “We have ideas about what we can do and how we can take on what we learnt at testing, so we will see how we go when we start driving on the track. We have been analysing the data and working on where we can make improvements and can work to optimise things further.

“We are ready to get started up again and I am excited to get the season underway.”

For Lawson, starting his first season as a full-time F1 driver in as close a race he can have to his New Zealand roots, it will be a baptism of fire but one he is looking forward to.

He said: “It's obviously really exciting to get the season underway and, of course, have my first Australian Grand Prix. It's close to home, so it feels like a home race for me.

“I can’t wait to get started as Red Bull Racing driver and I'll give one hundred percent all season.”