F1: Max Verstappen ready for 2023 title defence, claims new car much better than last season

Reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is full of confidence ahead of the opening race of the 2023 season in Bahrain this weekend. The Dutchman did not hesitate to say that Red Bull Racing has managed to provide him with a much better car than the one that won the team both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in convincing fashion last year.

The rest of the grid is shaking after pre-season testing showed that the RB19 is a force to be reckoned with. Verstappen topped the timesheets on Day 1, while teammate Sergio Perez logged the fastest lap in Day 3. Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu stole the show in Day 2, but everyone knows that it was probably the result of a light fuel load and experimental set-up that won't necessarily bother the front runners when it comes to the race weekend.

Back to the reigning world champions, Verstappen confirmed that the new car feels much stronger than last year's contender. This is a bold statement considering the fact that Red Bull won 17 out of 22 races in 2022.

The RB18 dominated the field in the previous campaign, but this time last year, it had some weight distribution and reliability issues. The problems were not resolved by the time the season kicked off, allowing Scuderia Ferrari to take a commanding lead after the first handful of races.

At one point, Leclerc held a 40-point lead at the top after Verstappen and Perez both suffered early retirements. However, those problems have long been forgotten. Red Bull managed to improve their car by leaps and bounds throughout 2022, and coupled with Ferrari's strategy errors, they won both championships comfortably. Based on Verstappen's prediction, they may dominate even more staggeringly in 2023.

Verstappen says the car has improved in every aspect after spending some time behind the wheel over three days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit last week. Speaking to Formula1.com, he said: "It feels nice, well balanced. Every team lost a little bit of performance with the floor [regulation changes] but you always try to gain that back."

He added that apart from testing, the improvements have been evident throughout the winter break. "I think also just in general the progress we made over winter was really good. We need to show it this weekend, and not just this weekend but continue to develop. Every track is also a bit different in terms of the behaviour of the car but the test days were good for us," he concluded.

Last year, apart from struggling with porpoising like most of the grid, the Red Bull car was also overweight at the start of the season. They also struggled to complete the race distance in the first three races. However, they were quick on their feet and managed to turn things around before Ferrari ran away with the titles.

Verstappen says that the car is now more suited to his driving style, making it easier for him to focus on his lap times. "[The weight] was the issue at the beginning of last year, [we] already improved across last year; this car has a few different things on it but from the start felt much more to what I liked."

Everyone else will have to play catch up, but Ferrari also looked strong during testing. They also have a new team principal on board, after Mattia Binotto resigned at the end of last season amid massive criticism over Ferrari's botched strategy decisions throughout the campaign.

Fred Vasseur is now in charge, and the Maranello outfit is optimistic about their chances for 2023. They appear to have a fast car, albeit no longer visibly quicker than they were against the Red Bulls last year. They still have the strong driver pairing of Carlos Sainz and last year's Bahrain GP winner Charles Leclerc. Both drivers are hungry for a world title, and it remains to be seen if they will get a real chance this year or if they will end up taking each other out.

Red Bull appear to have an advantage right now, but Ferrari will surely do everything they can to fight for the titles. Likewise, Mercedes are looking far more comfortable than they did last season, when they failed to mount a challenge at the top. This year, they are aiming to leapfrog Ferrari in order to go head-to-head with Red Bull once more.