Former World Champion Mika Hakkinen feels that Red Bull currently have the edge on Ferrari in the 2022 F1 title race, following Max Verstappen's win in the Miami Grand Prix. Verstappen's victory came on the heels of a dominant drive to P1 in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and - while Charles Leclerc still leads the Drivers' Championship, thanks partly to his Ferrari's superior reliability - Hakkinen reckons that Verstappen and Red Bull hold the advantage. "This was another important win for Max and, when you consider that he has won every race he has finished this season, we can say that Red Bull have definitely got a faster package than Ferrari," Hakkinen told Unibet . "Max's race was so strong. He made such a good start to take second from Carlos Sainz and his overtake of Charles Leclerc on Lap 9 was perfectly executed. "The Red Bull had a straight-line speed advantage over the Ferrari which meant that, even when Charles had the benefit of the Drag Reduction System, he was still unable to come back at Max. "When we had the late Safety Car period, Charles really pushed hard but Max was able to defend and pull away. He was totally in control."
Hakkinen: Ferrari need Barcelona updates
Leclerc still leads the Drivers' Championship thanks largely to Verstappen's failure to finish in Bahrain and Melbourne. But, with the Dutchman now having won back-to-back races, Hakkinen noted that Ferrari's planned updates for the following Spanish Grand Prix will be sorely needed if the Scuderia are to fight back and regain the initiative. "Ferrari are planning to bring some upgrades to their car," said Hakkinen, who clinched World Championships in 1998 and 1999 while driving for McLaren. "Charles and Carlos will really need those developments to give them a lot more performance, because the Red Bull is looking so strong. "Reliability seems to be the only weakness at Red Bull - Max had a costly problem on Friday, for example - but if they can find perfect reliability, Ferrari is going to find life difficult."
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