Max Verstappen accuses Mercedes of extreme sandbagging in F1 testing

Max Verstappen has pointed the finger at Mercedes, who he has accused of sandbagging during the first week of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Amid an ongoing row over F1’s new power unit and a supposed compression ratio loophole Mercedes have allegedly exploited, the Silver Arrows were quick to direct attention to Red Bull’s performance during the opening pre-season test in Bahrain.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff made headlines on Wednesday by describing the Red Bull Ford power unit as the current “benchmark” in F1, while he expressed fears his side could be losing a second per lap on the straights to their rival.

But Verstappen isn’t buying Wolff’s claims, nor his estimation that the potential advantage from the compression ratio trick is as little as 2-3hp. The Red Bull driver suspects Mercedes are deflecting and hinted at some pretty extreme sandbagging.

“You definitely have to add a zero to that! And maybe even more,” Verstappen quipped when asked about Wolff’s comments. “But you know, I fully understand what they are trying to do these days.

“I can tell you one thing: just wait until Melbourne and see how much power they suddenly find. I already know that right now.

“They are obviously trying to shift the focus to us because we did so many laps on Wednesday. But you have to look at it from both sides. Just wait until Melbourne and see how fast they suddenly go on all the straights.”

The four-time world champion added: “Let’s look back at the last 10 years of winter testing. I don't think you can say who was the world champion on day one, especially with a new ruleset like this.

“For me personally, it's more like diversion tactics. But that's okay. I mean, I focus on what we're doing here with the team. Because honestly, for us, there's still so much to learn. This new ruleset is so complex that we just want to do our laps. And yeah, just go from there.”

So is the current politicking and mind games on the eve of the new F1 campaign annoying Verstappen?

“No, everyone can say what they want,” the Dutchman insists. “I’m at a point where it already doesn’t really bother me at all.

“It doesn’t affect me, especially not if the car isn’t nice to drive. Then I’m busy with other things, working hard to get the GT3 car in a good place, for example.”

Verstappen was speaking on Thursday, before George Russell produced the fastest lap of the opening test on Friday morning.