Formula One winter testing is now all wrapped up.
After 8 days of testing in Barcelona, everyone in the paddock is now trying to guess how well everyone has done, who are the main contenders and who could be struggling.
One of the teams aiming to be one of the main contenders for 2018 will be Red Bull Racing.
Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo ended the 2017 Formula One World Championship on fine form and were regular contenders for both podiums and race wins against Ferrari and Mercedes.
Back on track for 2018. The season starts, right here! 👊 #RB14 pic.twitter.com/HZC8VbGtOg
? Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) 26 February 2018
With Renault seemingly improving their V6 Turbo Hybrid power-unit on an annual basis, they really could challenge in 2018 if they start strongly.
Their development over the course past seasons will also give them optimism that they can maintain a challenge throughout a 21 race calendar.
That?s a wrap! Our focus was on long runs and the feeling with the car was good. Happy with the pace. We can definitely work from here 💪 #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/QO4HIk6aUU
? Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) 8 March 2018
Red Bull Racing completed a total of 783 laps over the course of the eight days in Barcelona.
This was far fewer than both Mercedes and Ferrari, which they will find disappointing when looking at just how reliable the car can be and how far they can push all the components over many races.
But they were quick with Daniel Ricciardo setting the best time on day six. His 1minute 18.047s lap on the Hypersofts was only bested by McLaren and Ferrari.
Testing done, next stop #AusGP! 🙌🇦🇺 @danielricciardo completes 90 laps with a time of 1:18.327 to wrap-up our #F1Testing programme in Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/kCq0L0yBwW
? Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) 9 March 2018
?This week has been extremely productive and it was a similar story today, even though we covered fewer laps than on either of the past two days. In the morning we conducted a lot of aero work and stuck to the medium tyres. In fact, that was the case for most of the day. We made some changes in the afternoon and Daniel had a run on the supersofts later on, and he set an encouraging time on those. Red Bull Racing Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin told redbullracing.redbull.com.
?Overall, it?s been an excellent week of testing for us and we learned a lot about the RB14,? he added. ?Now we have two weeks to analyse all of that information and act on it before arriving in Melbourne, where we?ll see who has done the best job over the winter.?
It looks as though they will be in the mix with the giants of Ferrari and Mercedes and could well have closed the gap.
Testing done, let’s race already! 💪 #givesyouwings pic.twitter.com/aLFfzBT9Xv
? Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) 12 March 2018
