Verstappen: Mercedes will hold advantage for start of F1 season

Despite a dramatic overhaul of F1's technical regulations for 2017, Mercedes showed in Barcelona this week that it has not lost any of its strengths.

In particular, it appears to have made a big jump with its power unit, which could help it keep the edge over the opposition for a while.

For Red Bull, which went into testing being viewed as the team most likely to threaten Mercedes, its season ultimately rests on what progress engine partner Renault can make.

And while the 0.3 seconds per lap improvement it is targetting for the start of the season may not be enough to haul it up with Mercedes, Verstappen is hopeful that steps planned later in the campaign will allow it to do so.

"For sure they still will have an advantage over us in the beginning of the season, power-wise, but I think we are definitely catching up," said Verstappen when asked about the Mercedes engine.

No surprises

Red Bull itself had a fairly low-key four days in Barcelona, as it focused on reliability running rather than trying to go for headline times.

Verstappen said that he was pretty calm about where things were right now, with teams set to bring updates for the next test already.

"I think for sure the most important thing for us was trying and make mileage and seeing if all the parts were holding on," he said. "I think everything has been behaving pretty well.

"I think for us it was very positive. We've done quite a bit of mileage and also for me to get used to the car and also the whole team to understand the new type of car. I think we did a good job."

When asked if any other team had surprised him, Verstappen replied: "No, I don't think there where massive surprises. It's all within reach. It's too early to look to other teams. We were just doing our programme and haven't looked at others."