Let's talk Redbull

[Nitrodaze]

We go into the 2021 season with a heightened excitement about Redbull's stance relative to Mercedes and Ferrari. With a very strong lineup of Max Verstapenn and Sergio Perez, we see a promise of a tougher competitiveness for Mercedes to ponder. This lineup is geared towards reducing the slack that Mercedes has enjoyed in the last two seasons at least. With this lineup, Redbull shall be better positioned to consolidate any opportunities that present themselves to them in this new season. But more importantly, they would demand a higher level of excellence from the second car at Mercedes. If Bottas has an off day, he would have both Redbulls to contend with. If the Mercedes car is having its typical heating problems, both cars shall find both Redbulls present to give them headache.

It all comes down to how much step forward Honda has managed to produce coming into this 2021 season. If they have gained some more performance relative to the Mercedes engine, all signs would suggests that Redbull may steal one of the championship titles from Mercedes this season.



But having a change like introducing a new driver can be initially disruptive. Redbull noticeably underperformed in the opportunistic 2020 COVID season. A short season that seemed the sort of occassion that any team running closer to the Mercedes may be able to hassle them hard enough to steal one of the championships. We saw Redbull at its worst preparation to fight and with a lot of poor operational efficiencies at various points through the season. And uncharacteristically, Verstappen was not on his best form at those moments that mattered.

It certainly did not help starting the season with a DNF. Redbull must come into this 2021 season with a better preparation and a stubborn determination to succeed. They must ensure that they configure both cars to the best expectation of both of their drivers to have a remote chance of giving the most successfull team in F1's history the slightest notion of bother.

If Hamilton were to depart Mercedes, this would present Redbull with the highest opportunity ever, to snatch a championship or two from Mercedes. The reality is both teams would be dealing with bedding in a new driver to the team. But with more combined experience in the Redbull cars compared to Mercedes in the absence of Hamilton. And also both teams would be fielding driver pairing with no F1 championship winning experience.

However, the story would be slightly different if the incumbent seven times world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton remains in the car. The task would be slight harder for Redbull but not insurmountable with the right preparation, operational efficiency and car quality. The car has to be pin sharp and race weekends must be operationally at its very best for this to happen.

I remain excited to see if they can pull it off.