Max Verstappen satisfied with the debut of the Ford RBPT engine

The four-time world champion, who missed out on a fifth title in 2025 by two points, expressed satisfaction with his first laps behind the wheel of the Red Bull RB22. Max Verstappen He shared driving duties with his new teammate, Isack Hadjar, during the first week of winter testing in Barcelona. While all teams have their work cut out for them with new cars complying with new technical regulations, Red Bull has made things even more challenging with its entry into the world of engine manufacturers, in partnership with Ford.

With two cars on track, the Red Bull and the Racing Bulls, the RBPT Ford engine racked up the miles, completing over 600 laps, or approximately 2,800 km. All this without encountering any truly major issues, which pleased Max Verstappen, who, like many observers, must certainly have been worried about the potential teething problems that new engine manufacturers can face.

"Overall, it didn't go too badly. I wasn't able to do many laps the first morning because the weather wasn't great.", he explained to the official website of the F1. “We did a lot of laps on Friday, we learned a lot. There are still quite a few things we want to improve, but that’s pretty normal. Overall, being able to do so many laps with a new engine is a good start to the season for us. It’s positive, but we’re still in the early days of the season.”

Unsurprisingly, the Dutchman expects to see further improvements in the engine throughout the six days of testing organized in Bahrain, divided into two three-day sessions. This will be an opportunity to test the new power units for the first time in warmer weather, as the Barcelona tests were marked by rain and cold.

“We are continuing to work on the engine, but I think we have a good base. It’s a very complex formula for everyone, so there’s still quite a bit of work to do from that perspective, but that’s normal at this stage. We’re going to analyze a huge amount of data, and the goal is to get back on track with good momentum in Bahrain.”

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