In the Bahrain paddock, all the talk is not about whether Red Bull – and, almost certainly, Max Verstappen rather than Sergio Perez – will win the opening Grand Prix of the season.
It is about the distance they will win it by. Some judges reckon Red Bull could be half a second per lap faster than their closest rivals. But whatever the level of their supremacy, 38-year-old Lewis Hamilton, starting his 17th season in Formula 1, will be undeterred.
The seven-time world champion still believes he can stand apart from his younger rivals on the grid. He said: "I love the challenge of finding solutions and I still believe I'm able to put the car in places that perhaps others are not able to.
