Hill: "Definitely reliability questions still on the side of Red Bull"
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- GPblog.com
In the F1 Nation Podcast concludes that Red Bull Racing has managed to create a large gap with Ferrari in the drivers' and constructors' championship, but presenter Tom Clarkson and Damon Hill think it is too early to say that the weekend in Azerbaijan was decisive for the 2022 world championship.
"I don't think it is championship deciding, it's too close to call," Hill said. The former Formula One driver hasn't forgotten that three times this season an RB18 didn't make it to the finish line either because of technical defects. "Definitely reliability questions still on the side of Red Bull as well. I don't think they are completely on top of everything just yet. Things will happen between now and the end of the season."
Historically, it appears that Max Verstappen's 34-point lead over Charles Leclerc is not worth much at all. "We have seen championships at this point [of the season] where people have had 35 points, even bigger than that." Currently, we have eight Grands Prix behind us and fourteen weekends left on the schedule. Originally 23 races were to be held, but the Russian GP was cancelled.
Support for Hill
Clarkson agrees with Hill's words. "Ferrari are competitive, they have to refind the reliability that they had in pre-season testing. Do you remember? They could do lap after lap without any problems. now as we turn the screw on these cars and introduce these developments, they're struggling. Red Bull on the other hand suffered with reliability earlier in the year and are now looking bullet proof. Let's hope Ferrari can find that reliability."
The reliability issues may also affect further developments of the Ferrari engine this year. Until September, the electrical part of the power unit may be updated, but it is questionable whether there will be enough time to do so now that so many technical problems are surfacing.