Red Bull was unable to build on its strong performance in Australia last time in Bahrain in Bahrain as both Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly were fighting for grip and didn’t feel comfortable in the car. But the reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton assumes that the winners of last year’s Chinese Grand Prix will go hunting again this weekend in Shanghai …
Daniel Ricciardo put in a series of breathtaking overtaking maneuvers and developed a clever strategy to achieve a shock victory for Red Bull in China last year. But they ultimately failed to deliver a title challenge to Mercedes and Ferrari. This year they teamed up with Honda and their podium in Australia gave hope they could be a thorn in the side of the main protagonists.
But a repeat podium never seemed possible in Bahrain, as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted the RB15 had a tighter operating window and reaching the sweet spot was a challenge.
Although many believe this will be another battle between Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for the title, Hamilton disproved that suggestion and instead said it was a bigger battle – with Red Bull in the mix.
“Right now it’s clearly not just me and Sebastian,” he said. “Well, I don’t see that change anytime soon. At the moment there are at least four of us and the Red Bulls, they definitely can’t be counted.
“They got off to a slower start, but I think if you look at last year, for example, they won the race here and became particularly strong. I assume it could be similar.
“They were really good on the straights so they’re clear, while they usually have a really strong car and not that powerful engine, this year is different. You don’t have such a powerful car. But they’re one of the teams that can develop as quickly as Ferrari and us, so it’s way too early to say that. “
READ MORE: Why is Red Bull lacking in performance?
Mercedes scored two one-two victories in as many races in 2019. In contrast, Ferrari struggled in Australia and then showed the dominant pace they had shown in pre-season tests in Bahrain, particularly in terms of engine power, but failed to convert.
Does Hamilton think Mercedes can beat Ferrari and do three out of three this weekend? “At the moment I don’t know for sure,” he said. “The first few races of each season are really difficult to judge.
“Of course we didn’t expect the performance we had in race one, we didn’t expect to see what we saw in race two. It’s only the third race.
“Ferrari could come here with an upgrade and be even faster than they were [in Bahrain]. We’ve got so long in the back, which could really serve you well here.
“I hope we don’t have to rely on reliability and I hope we have a much closer race. I think qualifying last race was okay, but there was a big delta in the race and I hope this weekend is closer between us. This is a great track for a real race so the closer it is, the better. ”
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