Red Bull are in a class of their own once again, but is this an issue for F1?

No one is waving the white flag quite yet but there is an overwhelming sense that after only two races of the new Formula One season a drawn-out procession has begun to an inevitable conclusion of Max Verstappen and Red Bull claiming the title. Good news for the Dutchman and his team but the manner in which it is likely to play out will be far less welcomed by F1 as it attempts to hang on to all the new fans it has attracted in recent years.

In the opening two meetings Red Bull have secured two one-twos, the first in Bahrain with Verstappen in front of teammate Sergio Pérez and on Sunday the reverse result in Saudi Arabia. At Jeddah Pérez won from pole but Verstappen came back from 15th on the grid to take second with both cars exhibiting remarkable pace, at times a second a lap quicker than the rest of the field.

During his comeback Verstappen breezed past Lewis Hamilton as if the British driver was in a different class of car. Hamilton, who has experience of such domination when Mercedes held a similar advantage in the early years of the hybrid era that began in 2014, said: “I’ve definitely not seen a car so fast. When we were fast we weren’t that fast – that is the fastest car I have seen, especially compared to the rest. Max came past me with some serious speed.”

It was an observation backed ominously by Verstappen intimating that the championship was already a fight between just two cars, his and his teammate’s.

Such ascendancy is not unusual in F1. In the modern era McLaren’s mighty MP4/4 in the hands of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost secured 15 poles and 15 wins from 16 races in 1988. In 1992 the Williams FW14B was untouchable. It scored ten wins from 16 races with Nigel Mansell taking nine, including five in a row