Red Bull reveals its grid order verdict after receiving favourite tag by Wolff

At the start of testing in Bahrain, the comments from the Mercedes team principal and CEO caused quite a stir, as he played down rumours of the W17 being the favourite and instead claimed that the RB22 was ahead, particularly in terms of energy deployment.

Asked where Red Bull currently sits in the pecking order, Waché told GPblog among other media: “It's difficult to say. We are not the benchmark, for sure. You see clearly the top three teams, Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren, are in front of us, looks like from what our analysis is, and we are behind. There is where we think we are at the moment.

McLaren’s chief designer has also gone against the grain in response to the comments made by Wolff.

According to Marshall, there is no clear dominant team under the current regulations, with the Briton stressing that the competitive picture is far closer than some have claimed. In his view, the grid is much tighter overall, with no single outfit holding a decisive advantage at this stage.