This week, Ferrari led the performance charts, but Max Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez were notably behind, ranking fifth and sixth.
Despite their competitors opting for Pirelli’s softest tires, the Red Bull duo exclusively used the medium tires with yellow bands, trailing by approximately 0.8 seconds.
The consensus among most teams is that Red Bull maintains a lead over its competitors, though the extent of this advantage remains a topic of speculation.
For the experienced Fernando Alonso, the competition seems to be a foregone conclusion, suggesting that the outcome is already decided before it has officially started.
“I don’t have a crystal ball to know what the others are doing,” he said to reporters. “But Max is the world champion and Red Bull is dominating the sport, also, the concept that they presented this year, it’s also a surprise.
He continued; “At the moment, we just have to watch them and see how they perform, I think 19 drivers in the paddock now will think that they will not win the championship. It happens 99% of the time in your career. This is a brutal sport.
The Spanish driver went on to say; “After seeing Max and the Red Bull car this year, there are less chances for everybody to win a race this year, But this is how it is.”
“I think Red Bull clearly is out in the distance,” agreed Lewis Hamilton.
When questioned about whether the RB20 surpasses its predecessor, which claimed victory in almost every race last season, Verstappen responded with laughter;
“If it would have been worse then we did a very bad job!”
“For sure the car is better than last year’s car,” he continued, “but I think everyone on the grid has a better car than last year. The team believes with how the car is at the moment there is more potential to find. That’s now for us to unlock.”
