Following pre-season testing in Bahrain, it was clear that Red Bull were going to be the favourites heading into the first round of the season.
While the energy drink giants were certainly predicted to win the Bahrain Grand Prix, they were not expected to dominate it in the fashion that they did.
Max Verstappen took pole in qualifying and his teammate Sergio Perez ensured that Red Bull began the season with a front row lockout.
Verstappen then sped away from the start and build up a healthy lead while Perez overcame a battle with Charles Leclerc to make it a Red Bull one-two.
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Verstappen and Perez were even asked to slow down by the team with ten laps to go, with both drivers so far ahead of the competition that it was not worth risking anything by using 100 percent of the engine power.
This dominance led to Mercedes’ George Russell to claim that Red Bull could win every race this season, with their pace looking unbeatable so far.
“Red Bull has got this championship sewn up, I don’t think anyone is going to be fighting with them this year. I expect they should win every single race this season. That is my bet,” said the 24-year-old.
Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle has now revealed that Red Bull’s one-two in Bahrain was not as straightforward as it first seemed, with both drivers having to manage issues over the course of the race.
“Talking to a couple of key people after the race it clearly wasn’t as plain sailing for Red Bull as it looked,” explained Brundle.
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“Both the cars had new oil inlet pipes fitted in parc ferme, and in the race they were managing critical transmission issues on both cars.”
Red Bull suffered a double DNF at last season’s opening race in Bahrain and the team will be relieved to have not experienced a repeat of this last weekend.
If Red Bull can prove to be reliable over the course of this season, there does not appear to be any team on the grid currently capable of challenging the energy drink giants for the championship.