"With Sergio in his old form, Lewis would have been 21 points ahead by now"

For years Max Verstappen has had to fight alone against two superior Mercedes cars that have made his life difficult. Mostly this resulted in Lewis Hamilton outperforming teammate Valtteri Bottas and disappearing on the horizon while the latter tried to keep the Dutchman at bay.

Sergio in new form

This year, however, seems different. After a number of less than successful changes, Red Bull Racing finally have someone in the second car who can be of strategic value with Sergio Perez. After a difficult start to the season, Baku was a shining example of that. Journalist David Tremayne says on F1.com that team principal Christian Horner is in Valhalla at the moment with his two drivers.

Verstappen was able to disappear into the horizon this time while Perez kept a frustrated Hamilton behind him. After the Dutchman dropped out, Checo even managed to win the race. "If everything had continued as it did, with Sergio still in his old form, Lewis would probably be 21 points ahead now. Instead, Sergio's timely move to the front helped him to contain the Mercedes challenge and, when his team leader suffered setbacks, save the day with a brilliant rescue operation that brought a smile back to Christian Horner's face," Tremayne noted.

Turning point

As such, Tremayne believes the final laps in Azerbaijan could be a tipping point for the remainder of the season: "I'm sure Mercedes will successfully fight their way back in the coming races, but I wonder if, with both teams theoretically having two drivers each in contention, we won't look back on this race as the point where the balance of power really started to tip towards Red Bull."