Good News: The Bull Racing team has welcomed another 23 years of racing all times to the team
While not everyone is raising the white flag just yet, it seems clear that, after just two races of the new Formula One season, a protracted procession has started that will undoubtedly end with Red Bull and Max Verstappen winning the championship. Excellent news for the Dutchman and his team, but F1 will not be pleased with the way it is likely to transpire as it tries to hold on to all the new fans it has drawn in recent years.
Red Bull has won both of the first two meetings, one in Bahrain, where Verstappen defeated teammate Sergio Pérez, and the other on Sunday in Saudi Arabia. Pérez won from pole position at Jeddah.
Though both cars displayed incredible speed, at times a second faster per lap than the rest of the field, Verstappen recovered from 15th on the grid to take second place.
In Jeddah, Fernando Alonso rejoices on the podium
After confusion over Fernando Alonso’s finish in Saudi Arabia, the FIA will review its regulations.
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Verstappen outran Lewis Hamilton during his comeback, driving as though the British driver was in a different class of vehicle. Hamilton remarked, “I’ve definitely not seen a car so fast,” drawing on his prior experience of Mercedes holding a similar lead in the early years of the hybrid era that started in 2014. We weren’t that fast when we were; that is the fastest car I have ever seen, especially in contrast to the others. Max accelerated past me quite quickly.
Verstappen’s warning that the championship was already a battle between his and his teammate’s cars ominously supported the observation.
In F1, this kind of ascendancy is not unusual. In 1988, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost drove McLaren’s formidable MP4/4 to 15 pole positions and 15 victories from 16 races in the modern era. The Williams FW14B was unbeatable in 1992.
Nigel Mansell won nine of the 16 races it participated in, including five straight, to start the season and secure the championship with five races left. It finished with ten wins overall. With 12 victories from the first 13 races in 2004, Michael Schumacher was unstoppable, as he and the Ferrari F2004 silenced all dissent.
Mercedes most recently had the upper hand when they ushered in the hybrid era with the W05, winning 16 races, including 11 one-twos, and capturing 18 of 19 pole positions.
Red Bull now has a benefit that is on par with, if not greater than, that of any of those vehicles. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be any chance that they will be contested, at least not anytime soon.
Toto Wolff, the team principal, acknowledged in Saudi Arabia that Mercedes had chosen the incorrect design concept and that they would need to start over. Mercedes had no chance of winning this season.
