Red Bull’s newest bid to catch Mercedes

OF THE 79 FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACES of the turbo-hybrid era so far, Mercedes has won 63 times. It has taken every single title and Lewis Hamilton has added 40 victories to his personal tally – a strike rate of 51% over the past four years.

Last year, Ferrari provided the biggest threat to the Silver Arrows since the current engine regulations were introduced in 2014, but came up short. F1 needs more competition at the front and Red Bull is one of the few teams with the capability of challenging Mercedes.

As usual, Red Bull’s development rate during the 2017 season was impressive, but it started too far behind. As Christian Horner tells Ben Anderson on page 18, it’s something the team is well aware of, hence the decision to launch the RB14 early. If that works, then perhaps Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will be able to fight Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the front of the field, providing Renault is able to provide sufficient power (and reliability)…

The 2018 challengers from Williams, Renault and Haas have also been launched over the past week, with more teams to follow in the final days before the first Barcelona test begins on February 26.

The aims for each will be slightly different, but the hope of most F1 fans will simply be that the competition and racing at the front is closer, despite the apparent handicap of the current rules.