Will McLaren Outrun The Running Of The Bull?

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, AGP.

    A first rocket is fired signalling that the corral is open. A second rocket announces that all have been released. You set off confident over any impending threats. You skip out to what you think is an insurmountable lead. Just as you start surmising that this could very well be your time, there's a rumbling commotion coming up from behind. That once insurmountable lead seems to be shrinking rapidly. Only this is not Pamplona and not the running of the bulls. It's Formula One. And that bull charging unrelentingly up behind the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris is the Red Bull of reigning 4 time champ Max Verstappen.
    Championship leader Piastri just endured arguably his worst weekend in F1 at Azerbaijan with closest rival and team mate Norris unable to cash in on a potential massive points haul. Conversely, Verstappen has just come off back to back grand slam results at Monza and Baku. That is, pole position, fastest lap and GP victory. Now there are many suggesting that Verstappen has just entered the race for the driver's championship. Red Bull just introduced a raft of upgrades, most notable a new floor rendering the car more conducive to set up changes and thus more competitive. A real test of Red Bull's competitiveness is next weekend's Singapore GP which has traditionally been a bogey track.
    With 7 races left in the season starting with Singapore, then the Americas and lastly the Middle East, can McLaren afford to continue with their "drivers are free to race" mantra? Will a couple of strong results for current leader Piastri render that point moot? The constructor's championship seemingly is a mere formality for McLaren. In the next couple of races if Piastri and Norris take points off each other, will McLaren be spooked into abandoning their racing ethos to throw their full support behind one of their drivers? That way, some argue that they can sure up the driver's championship with the second driver playing rear gunner against the impending Verstappen threat. More to the point, with a maiden championship on the line, would one of their drivers simply refuse a team order because McLaren wanted to manipulate a race result all in the name of fairness like they just pulled in Monza? I suppose what we are asking is, when the final rocket is fired, will it be a McLaren driver that safely enters the bull ring before the Red Bull catches up?

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