“Any chink in the armour for Red Bull?” - Hill gives Ferrari fans hope for Saudi
Red Bull started F1 2023 with a dominant 1-2 finish in Bahrain as Max Verstappen won ahead of Sergio Perez.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was their closest challenger, finishing over 38 seconds off the lead.
Red Bull’s advantage in race trim was frightening, with Verstappen pulling away from Charles Leclerc in the first portion of the race at a rate close to one-second per lap.
However, with the track characteristics at Jeddah completely different to Bahrain, Hill predicts Ferrari to fare better.
“It’s going to be different [to Bahrain]," Hill told the F1 Nation podcast. “We’re going to realise Ferrari have got pace, they have got the ability to race and they’ll be all over the back of the Red Bulls with the DRS zones and everything. It’s going to be great.
“It is going to give a pointer as to whether there’s any chink in the armour for Red Bull, whether it actually is track specific; the performance of maybe Ferrari will be much more competitive and a circuit with less tyre [degradation], certainly in race conditions, and also their horsepower as well.”
The big talking point from Bahrain was Aston Martin’s notable improvement.
Just 12 months ago, Aston Martin found themselves bottom of the F1 constructors’ championship, now they’re second ahead of Mercedes and Ferrari.
Hill believes Jeddah will give a clear indication as to whether Aston Martin are genuine contenders for the podium this year.
“Aston Martin have now kind of created an expectation that they’re going to be brilliant at every event," Hill added. "So they are going to find out that you’ve got to keep it up if you’re going to do well.”
