General
HOT TAKE: Red Bull are still number two on 'traditional' circuits
- GPblog.com
Although Red Bull Racing were very strong at both Monaco and Baku, winning both races, Mercedes seem to have the fastest car at the more traditional Paul Ricard circuit. In FP1 the team was on top with two cars and in FP2 Max Verstappen was only marginally faster.
Excelling on just a few tracks
Red Bull's cars excelled on the streets of Monaco and Baku. Verstappen won the Monaco Grand Prix and was on course to win the Azerbaijan GP as well. That didn't work out due to a blowout, but Sergio Perez was there to end the weekend as a winner for Red Bull.
The two street circuits are both special in their own way. Monaco is by far the slowest circuit on the calendar, while Baku is actually the fastest street circuit on the calendar, although the Azerbaijani circuit still has many slow corners, where the Red Bull RB16B is very fast.
Back to reality in France
This weekend Formula 1 has returned to a traditional circuit. Specially designed to challenge race cars with combinations of different curves and straights instead of using existing streets. Mercedes were immediately on top of the timesheet again in the first free practice. The second training session went the way of Verstappen, but the difference was minimal and teammate 'Checo' was stuck in P12 after 24 laps in the session that is often used for longruns.
The trio of Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Verstappen look set to take centre stage in France once more. Hamilton and Bottas have the best car, while Verstappen is just a little bit quicker than his car. Therefore our proposition is that: Red Bull are still number two on 'traditional' circuits. Do you agree or disagree? Vote in the poll and let us know why in the comments!