Mika Hakkinen offers title race view as Ferrari v Red Bull takes centre stage in F1

Mika Hakkinen has offered his thoughts on Ferrari v Red Bull and says that there has been a power shift in Formula 1.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix provided a further reminder that it appears we have a new title rivalry in the offing this season compared to last.

Whilst the Mercedes cars were well off of the pace, Ferrari and Red Bull were battling it out up at the front, with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen once again fighting wheel-to-wheel.

And, that said Hakkinen believes that there has been a power shift in F1:

“After two races we can see that there has been a power shift in Formula 1,” Hakkinen said in his Unibet column. “We knew from the opening race in Bahrain that Charles Leclerc is looking incredibly strong at Ferrari, well supported by team mate Carlos Sainz.

“But now that Red Bull seems to have to have solved the fuel vaporisation problem which caused both cars to return from the first race, they are just as competitive.

“Mercedes have a significant set of problems to fix if they are to catch up with Red Bull and Ferrari. They need to do it quite quickly because the top two teams are going to be pushing so hard on their own development.

“It was very strange to see the Mercedes cars starting 6th and 16th, with Lewis Hamilton clearly unhappy with the set up of his car.

“This was a fantastic fight for the victory.

“We saw the very best of Charles and Max out there, and it’s great to see how evenly matched they are. There is clearly a good level of respect between them and they trust each other when racing so closely.

“The way they both used the DRS to try and give themselves a strategic advantage on each lap was fascinating, but ultimately Charles was unable to break away from Max.

“I thought Max timed