Max Verstappen takes an enormous lead into the second half of the season, after winning eight of the thirteen races completed this season.
The reigning World Champion leads Charles Leclerc by 80 points, a margin that should be considerably smaller had it not been for Ferrari’s strategic incompetence.
Leclerc has lost the race lead and arguably a victory three times this season, as a result of strategic errors by the Italian team.
The Monegasque has already retired from the race lead twice due to power unit failures, whilst also crashing out of first place on a single occasion.
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Verstappen has always been on hand to capitalise on Ferrari’s blunders, something which has also given Red Bull Racing a 97-point lead over the Scuderia in the Constructors’ Championship.
However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is taking nothing for granted, with the side being fully aware of how fast things can change
“The team will just do the best we can to maximise each result, each opportunity we have,” Horner told reporters.
“Max is in a strong place in the Drivers’ Championship, but we’ve seen how quickly things can turn around. We are taking nothing for granted.
“There’s still such a lot of racing still to do and a sprint race still to come. We will treat each weekend as we have done so far this year and look to maximise our points versus our competitors.”
Team orders will arguably be an option that the Austrian team will use to help their Dutch driver maintain or even extend his championship lead, with team-mate Sergio Pérez most likely set for his usual role at Red Bull as number two driver.
The Mexican has already faced team orders this season, at the Spanish Grand Prix he was told twice to let Verstappen past, whilst in Azerbaijan he was told not to fight the Dutch driver over the race lead.
Pérez has virtually no chance of winning the title, after going off the boil since winning the Monaco Grand Prix.
Pérez has dropped so far off the pace of his team-mate that it was questioned whether the Mexican had started his summer break early.
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He sits 85 points behind Verstappen ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.
You’d like to think that team orders won’t at least be used straight away, with Verstappen having a lead so big that he could afford to miss the entire upcoming triple-header and still lead the championship by at least two points.
That’s on the basis that Leclerc wins all three races and claims all three fastest laps, something which is incredibly likely not to happen.