3 HORSE RACE

[Antony Snook]

At the Saidi GP i noticed Jos the Boss Verstappen not happy with the Perez win. When i recorded the results and points i saw why. Max set fastest lap for a 1 point lead over Perez. If he had not it would be a tie.
I feel this is going to be a Senna V Prost rivalry and they will fall out due to fact they are in tittle fight. And if they pull each other off together then this can help 3rd place man Fernando Alonso a contender to gain a advantage.

A three Horse race that is what we asked for at the start of the season so far it is Max Versatten 44, Sergio Perez 43, Alonso 30. And we are only 2 races in.

 

[Jan Larsen]

Honestly, I think you're wrong. Or I'm being pessimistic.
Verstappen finished not that far behind despite starting 15th. If Perez really had the same pace, he'd have finished 20-30 secs up the road. Without drivetrain issues, Verstappen would have won as easy as Bahrain. Both Redbulls wasnt being pushed. And Alonso was 20 secs behind at the finish.
Both Prost and Senna was in the league Verstappen is now, Perez is not but he's an excellent #2. He could be WC stuff, but that means regularly challenging Verstappen throughout the season (and beating him on merit), something he has failed to do throughout his Redbull career.
Being pessimistic but most likely correct given 30 years of F1 viewing experience, I'm gonna say Verstappen will run away with this, massively. The only thing that could hold him back is reliability, as we saw last weekend.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

Verstappen finished not that far behind despite starting 15th. If Perez really had the same pace, he'd have finished 20-30 secs up the road.

Before the safety car came out, Verstappen was 21 seconds behind Perez (lap 16/17). Then for the stint after the safety car, Verstappen dropped back 4-5 seconds because of having to pass Alonso and Russell. When Verstappen asked on the radio what the fastest lap was, he was 4.3 seconds behind, then clearly backed off to save the battery for the fastest lap attempt on the final lap (Dropped back to 7.1 seconds). We don't really know how much racepace either driver still had in the bag.

That being said, I doubt it will be a three horse race. There's still a clear hierarchy within RB and while Verstappen may not have had a clear edge on Perez this race, he probably will in most of the races.

 

[Antony Snook]

Yes it was reliability holding Max back like a PC or laptop it is going to let you down at some point. It amazes me how mutch stress the cars are under and how long the parts will have to last. So Perez will probably have a event when he has to back off for Max or even retire car. The bottom line is the cars where 1 2 and from a constructor stand point that is good as both cars finished.

 

[bi11y]

Perez is not a championship contender. I hope that I'm wrong there but I really don't think he will be allowed to challenge Max.

Red Bull will keep options open for the first half of the season, once it looks safe for Max they will be more heavy on the 32.6 + 4 tenths instructions... or they will just use compromised strategies or setups to manipulate the position of the second car... eventually replace the driver if he is not doing the job they want.