1998 and 1999 Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen shares his thoughts on the events which took place at the Miami International Autodrome last weekend and feels that Red Bull currently have the edge on Scuderia Ferrari as the two teams battle for first place in the two world championships, after Max Verstappen’s win in the Miami Grand Prix.
The Dutchman’s win came two weeks after another dominant drive take first place in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Imola circuit and – while Charles Leclerc is still leading the Formula 1 Driver Standings ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, thanks mainly to the F1-75’s impressive reliability, Mika Hakkinen believes that the Red Bull is faster than the Ferrari car at this stage of the season:
“This was another important win for Max and, when you consider that he has won every race he has finished this season, we can say that Red Bull have definitely got a faster package than Ferrari,” Mika Hakkinen wrote in his usual post-race column for Unibet – “Max’s race was so strong. He made such a good start to take second from Carlos Sainz and his overtake of Charles Leclerc on Lap 9 was perfectly executed. The Red Bull had a straight-line speed advantage over the Ferrari which meant that, even when Charles had the benefit of the Drag Reduction System, he was still unable to come back at Max. When we had the late Safety Car period, Charles really pushed hard but Max was able to defend and pull away. He was totally in control.” – he added.
Charles Leclerc still holds a 19-point lead over Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship thanks mainly to the fact that the Dutchman suffered to DNFs this season, in Bahrain and Australia.
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However, as the Red Bull driver has now scored two consecutive race wins, the former two-time Formula 1 world champion pointed out that Ferrari’s scheduled upgrade package for the race at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona will be very much needed if the Maranello team is to hit back and regain the initiative in Spain:
“Ferrari are planning to bring some upgrades to their car, and Charles and Carlos will really need those developments to give them a lot more performance because the Red Bull is looking so strong,” said Mika Hakkinen – “Reliability seems to be the only weakness at Red Bull – Max had a costly problem on Friday, for example – but if they can find perfect reliability, Ferrari is going to find life difficult.” – the Finnish former racing driver concluded.
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