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Former Mercedes F1 driver Valtteri Bottas voiced concerns over Red Bull and Max Verstappen's dominating start to the 2024 F1 season.
The Austrian-British team had a perfect 1-2 podium finish in the first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with Verstappen winning and Sergio Perez finishing second on both occasions. The defending world champions seamlessly continued their dominant run from 2023, where they won all but one of the 22 races.
As quoted by Motorsportweek, Valtteri Bottas warned that Red Bull and Verstappen's dominance could be a cause of concern for the sport. The Kick Sauber driver clarified that though his team's focus would be on their own battles with the pack, Verstappen and his team's continued on-track prowess in 2024 could feel like a carbon copy of the 2023 F1 season.
“It’s been quite a clean sweep for the last two races for Red Bull and Max, so it’s a bit concerning. Obviously, it doesn’t change our focus and our battles on track but for the whole wide world, it could be a bit like last year. But let’s hope things change during the year,” the 34-year-old Finn said.
Bottas was part of the Mercedes F1 team when they were in an intense battle with Red Bull and Max Verstappen back in 2021. Since then, the Milton Keynes-based outfit has been the new dominant team on the grid, winning both constructors' and drivers' world titles in 2022 and 2023 without much opposition.
Christian Horner pleased with Red Bull's continued prowess in the 2024 F1 season
Christian Horner was delighted to see Red Bull continuing their dominant run in 2024 as the team won the first two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
When Sportskeeda asked about the team's brilliant performance, the team principal said:
“Well, the cars did converge because Checo was eight seconds or nine seconds behind his teammate at the time at the chequered flag. So it was a very strong team performance today. It was unfortunate we got the five-second penalty, but thankfully we had enough in hand that it wasn't going to challenge."
"It's great to see RB20 performing very strongly at another type of venue, another surface, another street layout. I think Melbourne will be different again. It's going to take four or five races to get a clearer picture, but again a very strong team performance today, and both drivers did an exceptional job,” he added.
Even though Red Bull was knee-deep in controversies about Horner's investigation, it did not hamper their on-track performance during the first two races of 2024.
