Lights Out: Red Bull tide turning?

In pre-season, as talk of Daniel Ricciardo's contract status began to swirl across the Circuit de Catalunya paddock, we were in no doubt that Max Verstappen was the future of Red Bull. Now that we're back in Barcelona, can we still say the same? It's lights out for Friday morning!

Shortly before the season-opening race in Melbourne, Verstappen claimed that he was Dr Helmut Marko's "new project" and that the kind of title-tasting glory that Sebastian Vettel had enjoyed with the team was his target.

Since then, Verstappen has made errors at all four grands prix in 2018, culminating in the all-Bull crash with Ricciardo in Baku last time out.

The pair have avoided the threat of team orders in Barcelona, but the pre-race rhetoric won't have made comfortable reading for the Dutchman.

Marko said that Verstappen has put himself under the added pressure he now endures as he approaches the scene of his breakout performance - a victory on his Red Bull debut in 2016.

However, Barcelona was last year the scene of another Verstappen rushed overtake, resulting in a collision with Kimi Raikkonen and a race terminated before it had chance to begin in earnest.

Team principal Christian Horner says Verstappen should take lessons from Ricciardo if he is to truly deliver on the promise that has tantalised us all in the two years since his first triumph.

With Ricciardo's Red Bull future far from certain, it might not be what Verstappen wants to hear, but the kind of performance that Ricciardo delivered in Shanghai looks beyond him at present and going backwards to go forwards isn't always a bad thing...

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????@_aarava travels with @alo_oficial along the @Circuitcat_eng to preview the #SpanishGP.#F1 pic.twitter.com/0JoTEyK3nE — GP Fans Global (@GPFansGlobal) May 10, 2018