Will Red Bull dethrone rival Mercedes?

For many years, Formula 1 fans have kept their fingers crossed for their favourite teams in the Mercedes – Ferrari battles. Ferrari have managed to embarrass Mercedes in a number of recent seasons, but – very aptly – have not been able to keep up with the breath. When Ferrari dropped out altogether towards the end of the 2019 season due to engine controversies, the F1 world began to ask who had what it took to dethrone Mercedes? Without perhaps suspecting it, another rival was very subtly rising:: Red Bull and Max Verstappen. And they have armed themselves for a big battle this year!

The biggest fears of the defending F1 World Champion Mercedes team with Lewis Hamilton have been confirmed:: his strongest rival has prepared well for the new season.

Red Bull, with ambitious Dutchman Max Verstappen and a Honda engine, has confirmed that the chance to win the championship is real. And now they must not let it slip through their fingers.

The excitement for the fans and spectators who can watch all of this year’s Formula 1 grand prix on Sport1 and Sport2 is enormous. Mercedes has won the world title in every season since 2014!

In 2017 and 2018, Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel embarrassed Mercedes, but always only in the first two thirds of the season. After that, Ferrari has always fallen off in terms of performance.

Mercedes has thus lost a serious rival, as Ferrari’s engine power has dropped significantly for 2019 and 2020 due to as yet unexplained mysterious rule circumventions.

But in the meantime, another rival that fans no longer gave much chance to started to rise:: Red Bull with Honda engines. Honda was on its way out of Formula 1 after a huge fiasco with the McLaren team between 2015 and 2017.

It resorted to Red Bull, but the Japanese powertrain manufacturer eventually confirmed that this year would be its last anyway. Still, Red Bull and Honda managed to win five grand prix in the past two seasons together! It was also thanks to this that Red Bull finished second behind Mercedes in the Constructors’ Cup.

Yet, or perhaps because Honda is leaving, it has decided to put all its efforts into further developing its engines. In addition, for this year’s change, the technical rules that affect the aerodynamic properties of F1 monoblocs have been slightly modified. It’s a discipline that Red Bull has traditionally been good at.

There was great anticipation as to what form the two biggest rivals would enter this season with. The opening Bahrain Grand Prix showed that it looks like a very even battle!

Just as Mercedes relies on Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull has a comparatively strong support in the amazingly fast Max Verstappen. The Hamilton – Verstappen duel brought drama that resulted in a gap of just three quarters of a second at the finish of the race!

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes may have won, but their fears about the strength of their rivals were misplaced. Also because there are limits to the performance of the car. Mercedes is worried that it won’t make up its performance deficit. Other rivals disagree, predicting that it will only take a few races for Mercedes to get back to its usual top level.

Well, yes, but even if it does, it doesn’t mean Red Bull will lose its improved form. It just confirms that in a field of stunningly beautiful grand prix racing, we can look forward to a headline programme that already bears all the attributes of an extraordinary Lewis Hamilton – Max Verstappen battle.