Can Red Bull actually challenge Mercedes this season?

Three races into the Formula 2021 season and we can already see the leaps that Red Bull Racing has made, not only in the ‘Hybrid Era’ of Formula 1, but also in the past year. Max Verstappen finally looks like a real threat to Lewis Hamilton’s 8th world championship, which will definitely put pressure on the ageing Brit.

Christian Horner will be delighted by the fact that his young gun has an actual shot at the championship this time around. But also that they have potentially found a replacement for Daniel Ricciardo who departed the team a few seasons ago. The man in that second seat, Sergio Perez, managed to finish the race last weekend in 4th, which should be the norm for races to come. But if Red Bull does want to fight for a Constructers’ Championship, they will have to make sure that both cars can challenge the front, and not only one.

Mercedes are also having some problems of their own, which is quite rare for a team as dominant as them. Lewis Hamilton has a heavy load to carry on his shoulders currently, as the young Dutchman is looking stronger and stronger, while his teammate weaker and weaker. We can see that their second driver, is having a lot of problems right now, be it on or off the track. Valterri Bottas, who nearly got overtaken by Mercedes’ young prodigy George Russell at Imola, but the two ended up colliding. We could see that both drivers were very feisty just moments after the crash.

Another incident that must have had an effect on Valterri Bottas was his Pole Position at Portimao. While a great achievement for the Finn, the team was not seen celebrating, at least to the same extent that they do for their number one driver. This could have affected him emotionally, maybe lowered his confidence, or else made him angrier and more fired up for the future.

There was also some on track drama between the two main championship contenders. The now famous track limits incident where Verstappen overtook Hamilton outside the whistle lines, even though the British driver had a tendency to exceed track limits there throughout the Grand Prix. Or the Lap 1 incident between the two of them at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix where we saw Max shove Hamilton to the outside. And even more recently where Verstappen’s fastest lap was deleted taking away the one additional point that the dutchman would have been given, away to Mercedes number 2, Valterri Bottas.

With both of these teams going head to head early on this season, and only seven points separating Max and Lewis. We will have to just sit back and watch for what the season has for us to unfold.