Sergio Perez has insisted that Red Bull will introduce a significant upgrade to their all-new RB18 challenger on the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. The Austrian team have enjoyed a productive week of running thus far but are yet to make any major changes to their car from last month’s three-day shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Their lack of progress has been in stark contrast to the likes of Mercedes, who turned plenty of heads on Thursday when they arrived in Bahrain with a heavily updated version of the W13 that was on track in Spain.
The German outfit’s unique design features extremely narrow sidepods that have already been hailed as a game-changing innovation by fans and pundits alike, while Red Bull boss Christian Horner and F1 chief Ross Brawn have described it as an ‘extreme’ interpretation of this year’s regulations.
However, Perez has warned that Red Bull could have Mercedes and the rest of the F1 grid quaking in their boots when their newest update is eventually given a run out on Saturday.
“We are not working on fast laps yet,” he told Dutch outlet NOS.
“That will come on Saturday on the last day of testing, then Max and I both have half a day. There will also be something new to see on the car then.”
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Perez also underlined the need to work harder to solve the ‘porpoising’ issue that has plagued a number of teams over the last few weeks.
“It’s all [going] according to plan,” said Perez when questioned by the official F1 website.
“I think the ‘porpoising’ thing is something that varies quite a lot, especially when you’re not running with DRS. You can get away with it in short runs but the long runs can be a bit more tricky.
“I think [the upgrades will be] all visually easy to spot tomorrow, so you will see it tomorrow.”
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The Mexican driver went on to insist that Red Bull will be looking to take their own steps to improve their car’s performance instead of simply copying Mercedes’s new sidepod design for themselves.
“We’re not going that way but yeah, I think everything should be there tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be able to run it on the final day,” he added.
“We are still focused on our [own] stuff for now for this short time period of testing.”
It remains to be seen whether Red Bull will bring a revamped version of the RB18 to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in just over a week’s time.
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Meanwhile, former F1 test driver Robert Doornbos recently suggested that Red Bull may find themselves in the ascendancy when the competitive action finally gets underway thanks to the presence of Adrian Newey as their chief technical officer.
“[The RB18 is] another masterpiece from Newey, he remains a brilliant man,” Doornbos told Motorsport.com.
“I was allowed to work with him for a year and a half, not as intensively as Max now works with him, but I was able to look over his shoulders and listen in on how he communicated with David Coulthard, for example.
“He was just standing next to him. [He would] sketch the car on an A4 sheet and come up with new things.
“He seems to have picked up the taste again thanks to Max. He’s in a good flow, I think he has come up with another masterpiece.”
Keyword: Sergio Perez lets slip Red Bull's new game-changer after 'extreme' Mercedes design