Red Bull With Verstappen Have 'Enough Of Advantage To Be Comfortable' Says Piastri

Tuesday, 27 February 2024 at 15:00

Oscar Piastri evaluated Red Bull's advantage ahead of the first race of the season - the 2024 Bahrain Gran Prix.

The lights will go out for the first race of the season at Bahrain International Circuit in only four days from the time of posting this article.

Many drivers and teams are now looking at the data from pre-season testing and are trying to firstly improve and, secondly, assess where they stand compared to their rivals.

While many hope for a close battle between at least two teams for the Championship title, the general notion based on what teams and their drivers said is that Red Bull will start the season in front again.

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McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri had the opportunity to watch both Red Bull drivers- Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, live on track, and he told the media:

"They don't look slow, put it that way. On day one, Max looked very, very strong, and Sergio [Perez, on the final day] certainly looked a bit more comfortable than he was."

Different estimates have been put out over the course of last week concerning Red Bull's pace advantage. Some say Red Bull will be around one second per lap faster, some say it will be half a second.

Helmut Marko, who is an advisor of the Austrian team, said he expects Red Bull cars to be three-tenths faster than others.

Nevertheless, it seems clear that Red Bull will start in front unless Mercedes, Ferrari, Astron Martin, or McLaren bring something unexpected to the season's first race.

The triple World Champion recently asserted a driver could make a difference of about two-tenths per lap. If Red Bull has an advantage of more than two-tenths, it will be incredibly challenging for anyone even to score a race win. Piastri added:

"They are the team to beat. How much their advantage is, I'm not quite sure, but it's probably enough...yeah, it is enough of an advantage to be comfortable. For everyone else, I'm not sure, but I think Red Bull is definitely still the favorite."