Red Bull is cruising to victory yet again with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. As they are the favorites to win both constructor’s title and the driver’s world championship. However, it is too early in the season to reach a conclusion. Only three races have been completed, and there are still 19 odd races to go. Mercedes and Ferrari have new upgrades ready to add to their car later this season. The arch-rivals of Red Bull, Mercedes, are waiting for their Imola modifications. Even then, the way Max and Checo are controlling the points table, it looks hard for other drivers to beat them. Red Bull drivers have enough lead over the other team drivers.
However, between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, there is a gap of 15 points currently. It is a pretty good lead for Max Verstappen. And Checo will need to win the next race in Baku to close the gap. Initially, the season looked a bit spiceless as Red Bull was way ahead of the rest of the teams in their performance and executions. There was no excitement as there was no competition between top drivers. Like in 2021, it was fierce competition between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. But after the Saudia Arabian Grand Prix, things got a little bit more interesting. As it was evident that Max Verstappen was not alone in the title race. He has got his teammate as his threat for the driver’s world championship.
Is Everything Fine Between The Red Bull Drivers?
Max Verstappen is looking for his third consecutive driver’s title. Sergio Perez won the Grand Prix in Jeddah. Max did not sound happy as he said, “I’m not racing to finish second.” Since then, the media has been overloaded with news regarding a rift between Checo and Max. There were speculations concerning Red Bull’s partiality towards Max Verstappen. Checo’s father cleared the doubt commenting, “Red Bull is a professional team. They support both drivers equally.”
Red Bull boss Christian Horner also cleared out the beef rumor going around the F1 paddock. The team principal mentioned, “There is a lot of mutual respect between the two drivers. There is no problem with their relationship.” Max Verstappen’s countryman Michael Bleekemolen blamed the media for increasing the hype about a cold war between two drivers. All racers are competitive, but Bleekemolen thinks what media does very well is throwing statements to create excitement. That leads to an exchange of hateful comments between the fans of the two drivers.
Checo Might Act Unrealistic At Times
Michael Bleekemolen added that Checo is a bit unrealistic. Sometimes Sergio Perez says that he is as fast as Max Verstappen and is the King of street circuits. It is true that Checo won in Jeddah this year. But the statistics between the two drivers show that Max has a far better record.
However, the controversy between the two started after Checo tweeted that he wants to be the champion, and later that tweet was deleted. It happened after the Saudia Arabian Grand Prix. Perhaps the Red Bull team asked Checo to delete that tweet. It is going to be exciting to see how this Red Bull rivalry unfurl.