After a damaging double-DNF for Ferrari, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez cantered to an easy 1-2 for Red Bull to hand the Milton Keynes outfit the initiative- both in the World Driver Championship, as well as in the Constructors Championship race. Elsewhere, Mr. Consistent- George Russell brought home the troublesome Mercedes W13 car to the chequered flag to round off another podium, once again inherited due to reliability issues facing the cars up front. 

Here are three takeaways from another intense, grueling weekend on the F1 calendar:

Max Verstappen reasserts Top-dog status

Ever since Checo Perez’ fantastic win at Monaco, voices, largely those of Max Verstappen’s detractors, have been slowly growing that he might be a genuine challenger to Verstappen and Leclerc for the WDC. 

Checo leads Max 5-3 in qualifying and has seemed more at ease with the new RB18’s under-steer tendencies than Max Verstappen has, especially over one lap- and this was true even in Baku. 

Perez, starting at P2 even conjured up the perfect start to the race as he raced into the lead at Turn 1, leaving the Ferrari of Leclerc between him and his teammate. 

Race winner, Max Verstappen and runner up Checo Perez pop the champagne to celebrate a Red Bull 1-2 in style

However, what followed was a mature drive from Max who nursed his medium tyres exceptionally at the first phase of the race, and then after getting on to the hards, he was unstoppable. 

Checo, unlike Max, had been more aggressive with his tyres early on with a full fuel load, which meant that his own race pace suffered as he couldn’t match Max’s pace, especially on the hards- as Max ended up winning comfortably by 20.8 seconds. 

Perez might still have a narrow edge over Max in qualifying, and even that is arguable because of the circumstantial nature of some of his qualifying wins over Max, but in race-pace, it is Max who is still the undisputed number one for Red Bull, and very much on merit.  

Also read: Source: F1 boss in South Africa for talks about race in 2023

Old wounds opening up yet again for Ferrari

The season that promised so much when the curtains were raised in Bahrain has slowly turned into an ongoing nightmare for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team.

Emphatic wins for Charles Leclerc at Bahrain and then Australia seem to be distant memories as everything that could go wrong for Ferrari has.

Whether it is a 2nd driver that is flattering to deceive, thereby leaving Ferrari’s options in strategy to fight the Red Bulls limited, or the team’s own limited strategic nouse that robbed Ferrari of a sure shot 1-2 at Monaco, or now perhaps the most alarming- reliability issues and power unit malfunctions, things have all gone horribly down south for the iconic Italian team. 

A forlorn Charles Leclerc returns to the paddock mid-race after Power Unit issues ended his race

The Tifossi will be getting a painfully familiar sense of deja-vu, as similarly promising challenges to the top of the pile evaporated into nothingness in 2019 when reliability and strategic weaknesses never gave the drivers a strong platform to build a title challenge.

It is 2022 now, and again, despite possessing a fast and responsive car, they’re now left looking over their shoulders at the unflattering but reliable Mercedes instead of competing on twin fronts with the Red Bulls.

That two other Ferrari-powered cars failed to finish the race will only serve to bring the Maranello team closer to pressing the panic button. 

Also read: F1: Ferrari suffer double DNF in Azerbaijan, Charles Leclerc frustrated

Paddock politics are back 

Mercedes’ troubles this season have been well documented with the 7 times consecutive World Constructors Champions having to race with a bouncing car that has thus flattered to deceive, and these problems with porpoising reached an all-time high during the Azerbaijan GP. 

Calls for change have suddenly grown louder, with serious discussions now taking place on how and when something can be changed, if at all. 

Lobbying has started in full earnest, as George Russell, who is the Director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, and perhaps not coincidentally also driving for Mercedes Benz has been extremely critical about these new regulations, warning that it is a matter of time before F1 witnesses a ‘major accident’ because of these cars.

Also read: Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell question safety of bouncing cars

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who has also had a poor season thus far, has also been critical about the new generation of ground-effect emphasised cars that run a lot stiffer than the previous generation. 

Lewis Hamilton, whose porpoising Mercedes W13 left him with a beaten-up back

However, it appears that only some teams are suffering from these issues. Others like Red Bull seem to have simply worked better within the new 2022 regulations and developed a car that works well within the rules, and so Red Bull chief Christian Horner was in no mood to offer any sympathy for the suffering teams when asked for his thoughts during the weekend. 

“The easiest thing is obviously to raise a car. So.. you know, the team has a choice to do that,” Horner said. Raising the car means that the bouncing reduces, making the car easier to drive, but also reduces downforce tremendously, thus affecting performance.

“You have a choice where you run your car, don’t you? And you should never run a car that’s unsafe. But I think that’s more for the technical guys– because there’s certain cars that have issues, and there are some cars that have few issues. It would seem unfair to penalise the ones that have done a decent job versus the ones that have perhaps missed the target slightly.”

When asked what he would tell his drivers to do if his team were the ones suffering from these issues, he said, “I’d tell them to bitch as much as they could on the radio, and make as big an issue out of it as they possibly could. It’s part of the game.” And this is exactly what Horner thinks the other teams are up to! 

Clearly, this is a space to watch- with no teams willing to give an inch, especially not the ones who have correctly interpreted the new rules and are now rightfully getting rewarded for it!