MONTMELÓ, Spain — While some inside the Formula One paddock think Red Bull might return to a position of dominance at the Spanish Grand Prix, the jury is still out. Max Verstappen himself is not convinced by that suggestion.
The world champions have looked beatable in recent races, with some of their cars’ biggest weaknesses exposed at a run of less-conventional race circuits in Miami, Imola, Monaco and Canada. Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, considered the sport’s best barometer for car performance, might be the perfect place for Red Bull to recapture its early form.
“I don’t think it will be like the beginning of the season,” Verstappen stated Thursday when asked about his expectations. That in itself speaks volumes about how big of a change F1 has seen to the competitive order lately.
Wind the clock back a few months and Verstappen was racking up race victories for fun, coasting to wins at four of the opening five races. A brake fire in the early stages of the Australian Grand Prix likely stopped that being five straight.
Then came a resurgence from Red Bull’s rivals, though. First there was Lando Norris‘ win at the Miami Grand Prix, followed by the McLaren driver narrowly losing out to Verstappen at Imola, before Charles Leclerc won for Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix. Although Verstappen returned to winning ways in Canada in a topsy-turvy race featuring rain showers and safety cars, both Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell felt they could have won on another day.
The upturn in form of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes appear to have changed the temperature of the whole season. As such, Verstappen sounded cautious about Red Bull’s chances ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
“I know that normally this is a track our car should suit a bit more, and we’re excited, of course,” Verstappen added on Thursday. “Of course I’m aware that everyone has been catching up a lot, everyone is quite confident. But if you compare this to the last few races that we have done, this should be a better track.”
The Spanish track, which for so long hosted F1’s preseason tests, is a return to more normal race tracks. The…
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