"Everywhere" - Max Verstappen did not hesitate while responding where the RB19 is better than its predecessor

Max Verstappen sounded bullish in his review of the RB19, Red Bull Racing's car for the 2023 Formula 1 season.

Red Bull launched their new car in New York on February 4, where they also announced a significant new engine partnership with Ford from 2026. The team hopes that the new car will be as good as 2022's RB18, which helped the team win both the Driver's and Constructors' Championships with 17 wins.

The car also helped Verstappen dominate by winning 15 races to set a new single-season record while amassing the most points by a driver ever in a single campaign.

Looking ahead to the upcoming campaign, Verstappen sounded excited to compete in the RB19 as he believes the new car is a serious improvement in just about every possible way. Speaking on Sky Sports, he said:

" [The 2023 car is better than last year’s car] everywhere! That's the aim. You always try to improve it. Feels nice, well balanced of course. And every team lost a bit of performance with the floor but you always tried to gain that back in a way. So you have to find a bit of a new balance with the car, but it's been good."

Red Bull looked like a dominant force during the three-day pre-season testing in Bahrain. They were the quickest team in race simulations and held a 0.3s advantage over the others.

When asked for his thoughts on Red Bull being named the favorites for 2023 following pre-season testing, Verstappen said:

"We had three really good days. I think also just in general the progress we made over the winter was very good. But we have to of course show it this weekend. Not only this weekend of course. You continue to develop and every track is also a bit different in terms of behaviour of the car. But yeah, the test days were good for us."

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Max Verstappen believes Mercedes and Ferrari have bridged the gap to Red Bull ahead of 2023 season

Max Verstappen believes that Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes AMG have improved significantly to bridge the gap to Red Bull Racing in the lead-up to the 2023 F1 season.

The reigning two-time world champion believes both Ferrari and Mercedes have worked on engine reliability, which could go a long way in improving their chances.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the 2023 Bahrain GP, the Dutchman said:

"At Ferrari they have focused enormously on being faster on the straights, but yes, because of that you lose in the corners. So time will tell what the right decision was. Obviously, you want to go fast on the straights, but you still have to have enough grip on a corner. You always have to try to find some balance."