By Hisham Hilal | Staff Writer
Between 2010 and 2013 Red Bulling Racing were able, under the hand of aerodynamic genius Adrian Newey, to create cars that took the F1 world by storm. After years of Ferrari and McLaren dominating the sport, Red Bull were able to show what a new team can do. Powered by Renault V8s and driven by their then star, Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull took over 4 straight world championships, in both Drivers and Constructors titles; with 2013 being their most dominant, in which Vettel won 13 races, 9 of them in a row.
With 2014 came new regulations that changed the rules for a new V6 turbo hybrid engine, Mercedes mastered this formula and massively dominated the sport since then. However, Red Bull still showed signs of success, winning 3 races with Daniel Ricciardo that year. In 2016 Red Bull’s newest young star Max Verstappen made his debut for the team, winning his first race with them, becoming the youngest race winner at 18. Verstappen and Ricciardo achieved great success with the team from 2016 and 2018; however, the car was still very much behind Mercedes and even Ferrari. In 2019 Red Bull split with Renault and switched to Honda engines. The partnership was a quick success with Max Verstappen winning 3 races that year and slightly closing the gap to Mercedes. In 2020 Mercedes built their most dominant car yet, with Lewis Hamilton winning 11 out of 17 races, securing the championship without a major battle. Nevertheless, that year, Max Verstappen managed to win 2 spectacular races, where he made it clear that the fight would be coming to Mercedes.
With all of the aforementioned building up to 2021, the season started in Bahrain with Max Verstappen taking pole position and just missing out on the win as a result of a track limits violation. But it started to appear that Red Bull finely built a car that can be on the level of Mercedes immediately in the hybrid era. This came as a result of changes made in the floorboard of the cars that suited Red Bull’s design, Adrian Newey mastering the rules, and Honda further developing their engine. Verstappen won the following race in Imola, whereby Hamilton won the following 2 races, and it was not until then that Red Bull and Verstappen truly appeared unstoppable. Red Bull consequently won 5 races in a row, 4 of them by Max Verstappen. The next round at Silverstone witnessed a crash between both rivals, dragging thus Verstappen out of the race. Following that incident, Red Bull bounced back, getting pole position with Verstappen and both wins in Spa and the Netherlands, where the dutch driver absolutely dominated the race in front of his home crowd. The following two rounds in Russia and Turkey were won by Mercedes, with Hamilton and Bottas respectively. At that time, it looked like Mercedes was again able to find an edge over Red Bull. Yet, in the next two races, in the USA (which was highly expected to be a Mercedes track) and Mexico, Verstappen wins ahead of his rival and extends his lead, notably with his teammate Sergio Perez, securing a double podium for the team. After that race, Hamilton himself stated that Red Bull are “too quick” and that he “needs to win every remaining race for the title.” Immediately after that statement, the tables have unexpectedly turned in the Brazil Grand Prix.
Qualifications, that weekend, were determined by a sprint race format. Just before that, it was found that the Mercedes car had an illegal rear wing, which disqualified Hamilton from the qualifications, starting the Sprint Race from the back of the grid. Despite that, the British driver managed to finish 5th, leaving the crowd speechless. But it was noted ahead that a grid penalty was to be given to the team for changing the engine, which made him drop down to 10th for Sunday’s race. Getting to the race, Hamilton wins from 10th after a thrilling drive with the new Mercedes engine allowing him to overtake with ease and beat his rival Max Verstappen who was leading this race.
While this shows that the championship fight between Hamilton and Verstappen is far from over, the new found speed in the Mercedes engine, the Drag Reduction System (RDS) and rear wing controversy are raising some questions about the legality of Mercedes’ upgrades right now. And with the pressure Red Bull is applying, it does seem to make the crowd desperate to catch up on what little we have left of the season, with the final 3 rounds in the Middle East just around the corner.