Red Bull champion Max Verstappen 'not concerned' by Mercedes sidepod, George Russell impressed by Ferrari

Max Verstappen claimed he was «not concerned» by the new sidepod design introduced by Mercedes at Bahrain testing. The team debuted their new-look design on Friday on the first day of testing in Bahrain, and they were markedly at odds compared to other teams, given they were barely visible. Ad/> That raised speculation that Red Bull’s Christian Horner, other teams, and Formula 1’s managing director Ross Brawn might appeal against the design or intervene to prevent their use.

For now, however, it appears the team will be allowed to experiment. Formula 1Horner: Mercedes ‘bullied’ Masi into F1 exit07/03/2022 AT 18:19 Current F1 champion Verstappen toed the team party line at the session interval press conference, and proclaimed indifference. «We can only focus on ourselves,» the Dutchman said.

«I said this so many times last year and that's what we've got to do again this year. »Even if the car looks different, there are so many unknown things still that we need to learn about. So I'm not worried at all." Controversy and confusion in Bahrain as Mercedes introduce new sidepod design Bahrain Day 1: Haas still struggling, bouncing cars, and tributes to Ukraine Ferrari driver Leclerc fastest in first session in Bahrain Mercedes driver George Russell, in action in the second session, said he was simply interested in how fast the car would go with the current design.

The Briton said: «It looks interesting… but it's not about how it looks it's about how fast it goes. »It obviously caught a few people's eye this morning and from my side I'm proud to be a part of a team that's pushing innovation, all this hard work, blood, sweat and tears going into something pretty spectacular being pulled off is pretty incredible. But we need to