Max Verstappen is relishing the fact that Red Bull have this year provided him with a car in which he can seriously challenge to win his first Formula 1 world championship, the past two races indicating that the RB16B is a serious title-contender.
It's no longer a case of David versus Goliath which was his role until recently, but rather Goliath versus Goliath as Red Bull with Honda power have bridged the once insurmountable performance gap to Mercedes who have simply cleaned up during this hybrid turbo era.
This year its a level playing field, including a new wingman for the Dutchman in the form of Sergio Perez. Mercedes, collectively, are under unprecedented pressure.
Also worth noting is the change in attitude and approach that the changed landscape requires, the uber-positive body language a dead giveaway as the folks in Blue are palpably fired up of for the battle ahead, led by their star driver.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix, Verstappen said in the team preview: "I am looking forward to going back to Portugal, we were on the podium there last year and we have a better car now so I’m looking forward to extracting everything we can from the car and have a bit of fun out there.
"Every race weekend so far, we’ve really felt that there is a chance to win, it feels like a different mindset now when you know you can fight for pole. We’ve definitely learnt a lot over the years, I’m very excited to see what is ahead of us. It won’t be easy but we are going to do everything we can to stay in the fight this season."
Imola was the kind of weekend that tested Verstappen like seldom before, and he passed with flying colours. Smarting from being outqualified by a teammate for the first time since 2017, which Sergio Perez did a couple of Saturday's ago in Italy, the Dutchman bounced back the next day to score a fabulous victory.
It was the kind of test that needed to be passed, being beaten by a teammate when it mattered once over a Grand Prix weekend is hard to take but it happening twice simply did not register for the 23-year-old that weekend.
He reflected on his 11th F1 victory: "It was, of course, great to win, after missing out in Bahrain it felt very satisfying to win the race in Imola. There were definitely a few things that we wanted to learn from the Bahrain race, which we did, and we could bring home the win.
"We also know that it’s a very long season, so we just have to stay very focussed and I am always looking ahead, Imola wasn’t perfect so we have to keep pushing," he added.
Heading to the Algarve, Verstappen is one point off the lead in the Drivers’ Championship, but he has led the most laps this season, the Red Bull driver leading 90 laps so far in 2021 compared to Lewis Hamilton’s 29 so far.
Imola 2021 was a great result for Honda, victory at the history-steeped venue was the first since the Honda powered win by Ayrton Senna 30 years ago.
This weekend Red Bull are seeking to give Honda their first front-row lockout as a power unit supplier since Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger at the 1991 Australian Grand Prix.
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