GEORGE RUSSELL is in no doubt who will win this year’s F1 title.
In fact, he thinks Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull will win ALL 23-races such is the superiority of the Dutchman’s car.
“Red Bull have got this championship sewn up,” said the Mercedes man after Verstappen won in Bahrain and he finished seventh.
“I don’t think anyone will be fighting with them this year. They should win every single race this year, is my bet.
“With the performance they’ve got. Their pace seemed weaker this weekend than it was in testing, but they’ve got it easy at the moment.
“They can do what they like. They might not be on pole all the time because we know Ferrari are very competitive in qualifying, but when it comes to race pace they’re in a very strong position.”
Let’s take nothing away from Christian Horner’s team who, thanks to the pen of designer Adrian Newey, have an absolute rocketship of a car.
It is an improvement on last year’s model – which the cynics are suggesting is remarkably like this year’s Aston Martin, which propelled Fernando Alonso to third-place at the Sakhir Circuit.
But the reality for F1 fans tuning into this season’s opening race with such expectation is that it could turn into a long, hard watch.
That could prove to be a problem for Formula One, who until last year at least had been treated to some pulsating battles to keep things interesting.
F1 does have a history of seeing a team dominate.
Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes have dominated for spells in the modern era.
However, the difference is now the sport is enjoying a booming spell of popularity and the question is whether this new generation of fans, converted by the Netflix series, will remain suitably entertained.
If Verstappen is winning week after week by a considerable margin, and Ferrari and Aston Martin are alternating for third place, the novelty will soon wear off.
Make no mistake, Red Bull’s advantage is huge.
Not even a cost-cap penalty of a £7million fine and a reduction in wind tunnel testing has slowed them down.
If anything, they are quicker by virtue of Mercedes’ dreadful design that has been produced after pigheadedly sticking with a failed concept, which has now been consigned to the bin.
And while Ferrari looked to offer some hope they could put Red Bull under a bit of pressure, their old Achillies heel proved to be their weakness when Charles Leclerc pulled over with an engine issue and failed to finish the race.
There were rare moments of excitement.
Two-time world champion Alonso battled with Lewis Hamilton on lap 38 with the Spaniard getting past the Brit with an excellent piece of driving through turns nine and ten.
In truth, Hamilton, who was fifth, was a sitting duck as he delivered his assessment after the opening race of the year.
He said: “We’re miles away. There was a Ferrari that would’ve been ahead of Alonso so we would’ve really been sixth, the podium was nowhere near.
“We’ve just got a lot of work to do, we’ve just got to add downforce to the car, we’re just lacking a lot of downforce.”
Alonso then swooped past Carlos Sainz on lap 45, to take a place on the podium for the first time since the 2021 Qatar GP.
Esteban Ocon provided some light relief with a shocking performance that at least made us laugh.
He was penalised for being out of position on the startline.
He then failed to serve the five-second time penalty correctly, triggering another sanction.
And in making his pitstop, he was penalised for speeding in the pitlane before eventually retiring from the race.
Other than that, it was all fairly routine for the rest, apart from McLaren who are in a crisis.
Oscar Piastri was forced to retire on his debut GP with a gearbox problem and team-mate Lando Norris came last after stopping SIX TIMES.
The saving grace is the stat that since 2016, no driver who has won the first race of the season has then gone on to lift the title.
That is likely to change this year.
