Max Verstappen admitted his confusion over the ever-changing Formula 1 pecking order behind him.
The Dutchman has been one of the few constants so far this season. His Red Bull team has won every race and Verstappen has taken eight of those victories – the other two secured by team-mate Sergio Perez.
Behind them, though, the balance of power has shifted with eye-catching regularity. Aston Martin started the season strongly with Fernando Alonso leading their charge.
They have gone off the boil slightly in the last few rounds, though, with Mercedes finding more pace after their major aerodynamics changes. And Ferrari have had their moments in the sun too, though they continue to lack race pace.
And, at the British Grand Prix, a new challenger emerged. McLaren caught everyone by surprise as their own major upgrades worked like a charm, finishing last weekend's race second and fourth.
Lando Norris was even able to take the lead of the race early on by beating Verstappen off the line. He only held on to first place until lap five, but it was a real statement intent from the British driver and his team going into the second half of the season.
Verstappen admitted that it has become difficult to predict who might be their closest challenger at any given Grand Prix these days. "It’s very confusing to me because every single race weekend, it's someone else," said the championship leader.
"I think it's because it's so close behind that if you get your car in a little bit of a better window, it works on one particular track. So, for me, I don't know what's going to happen in Hungary [the next race] to be honest, who is going to be quick or the second-quickest."
Luckily for him, though, Red Bull have always stayed on top. He added: "The stable factor so far is that every single weekend, it seems like we are on top, which of course is the most important from our side. But again, Hungary is a completely different track, we will put some upgrades on the car there and hopefully they will work well."
Team principal Christian Horner also finds it hard to make predictions, but crowed that it can only be a good thing for his team when the rest of their rivals are squabbling amongst themselves. He said: "It makes it easier in many respects. It means that we just focus on ourselves and it's somebody else every weekend.
"It's interesting to see how the form is moving around and it's so tyre sensitive as well. We had another tyre, another construction introduced this weekend [at Silverstone] and that has probably come into play a little as well."
