Max Verstappen comfortably won the season’s first race with a mammoth margin of more than 20 seconds again his teammate Sergio Perez. The season opener win, for a large majority in Formula 1, indicated that Red Bull, with Max Verstappen, would continue their dominance.
However, since 2017, no driver that has won the season’s inaugural race has gone on to win the championship. The curse lately has been coined by the name of the Bahrain curse, as since 2021, it has been the venue for the season’s first race.
And as the name goes, nobody that has won the race has won in Bahrain since 2021 has gone to win the championship. And with this, an F1 fan on Reddit reminds Ferrari that all is not over after seeing the extraordinary pace by Verstappen in Bahrain.
Also read: Red Bull Engineer Was Unhappy With Max Verstappen Despite Dominating Bahrain GP
The season is long to deny Max Verstappen his third title
Formula 1 has mapped its longest season, with 23 races this year. Therefore, with 22 races still to go, anything can happen over the year, as claimed by an F1 fan urging Ferrari not to give up hope so soon.
A user by the name of u/AfgebrandeKoek2 posted a screenshot from 2022 when fans discussed Red Bull engines by Honda’s reliability. In last year’s season opener, three out of four Honda-powered cars had to retire because of technical failure.
At that time, Red Bull took a massive deficit against their chief rivals Ferrari as the Prancing horses secured a P1-2 finish like Red Bull this year. But a few races later, the current world champions placed a comeback by winning multiple races in a row, forcing Ferrari to submit their significant lead that was amassed early in 2022.
Red Bull will break Ferrari’s curse
Since 2017, a Ferrari driver has been the recurring victim of the season opener race win curse. In 2017 and 2018, it was Sebastian Vettel. In 2022, it was Charles Leclerc. The only exception was Valtteri Bottas in 2019, but eventually, his team and teammate secured both championships.
In 2021, Hamilton saw the same fate, but his title defeat is disputed. Nevertheless, Red Bull, over the last two years, has been very consistent, unlike Ferrari.
So, fans claim only Ferrari can uphold such curses and expect Verstappen to end this curse finally. As things stand, the fans this time are likely right.
Also read: Oscar Piastri Reflects Back on Bittersweet Experience After Horror Start to Life in F1
