Christian “Good Cop” Horner is bewildered and dumbfounded at having to settle for second-best four races into the 2021 Formula One season. Red Bull has won one race to Mercedes’ three. And at the center of it all is Lewis Hamilton, without him behind the wheel of a Mercedes, Red Bull would be looking super dominant. And that’s why Christian “Good Cop” Horner looks dazed and confused at the end of a race won by Hamilton. On paper Red Bull have the better package and a driver equal to Hamilton. But Hamilton has the edge, not necessarily through experience but the combination of raw speed and intelligence.

Max Verstappen is like Maverik from Top Gun, he could and should have won at least two, possibly all four closely contested races. But this season will be marked out by the smallest of mistakes and that award goes both to Red Bull and Max Verstappen. And Christian “Good Cop” Horner is starting to feel the heat as the next race approaches. The Monaco Grand Prix is the blue riband event on the F1 calendar.

Monaco is both a rewarding circuit to drive and also an ever-present danger. However, Horner believes Red Bull is the ever-present danger to Mercedes this season. And Red Bull with Max Verstappen at the helm has a strong chance to win. During a media interview Christian “Good Cop” Horner said:

“The Mercedes, we’ve seen it since Bahrain, I think their race pace has been better than ours at each Grand Prix we’ve seen so far, and I think their tyre degradation has been better than ours,”

“We knew the last two circuits (Spain and Portugal) would play to their strengths. But we are an awful lot closer than we have been and I think if we can find some more race pace, it’s still very tight between the two cars.”

“We need to make sure we beat Mercedes in Monte Carlo. But we know that will be incredibly tough.”

The Monaco Grand Prix is scheduled for Sunday, May 23.