The 2021 Formula 1 World Championship is becoming race after race more and more a chess match, with Mercedes and Red Bull involved in an all-out battle on different tables: first of all the tough confrontation on the track between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, then the political and dialectical dynamics between Toto Wolff and the Marko-Horner couple, and finally on the level of reliability, with the tactical decision of the fourth engine to be mounted on the cars of the title contenders. The decision taken by Red Bull in Sochi to mount the Honda power unit number 4 and serve the related penalty was almost painless, as the young Dutch driver managed to finish the race started from the back of the grid in second position.
This aspect bodes well for the troop led by Christian Horner, given that Mercedes will be forced to suffer the same penalty with Lewis Hamilton in the next races and the Englishman will in turn be forced to make a comeback that is anything but simple. The Red Bull councilor, Helmut Marko, he had a clear idea of the reason for the difficulties encountered by the engine department of the Silver Arrows: “They have always used power units with ease. They used to use power for the first few laps and then went into ‘cruise mode’. This is no longer possible for them“. The former Austrian driver – in the statements made to Auto, Motor und Sport, said he was convinced that the German engines are giving way under the pressure of Red Bull Honda: “Now they can no longer do this and are forced to drive more often in a higher mode and this gives rise to problems“. Lewis Hamilton has so far used three engines, one of which is unusable. The remaining two have already accumulated 4000 km each.