Verstappen: I don't expect it to be an easy task in Jeddah

One should take the Dutchman's statement with a pinch of salt though, as the manner in which he dominated in Bahrain - leading teammate Sergio Perez in a Red Bull one-two with Fernando Alonso best of the rest in the Aston Martin almost 40s away from the lead - doesn't by any chance mean he will slow down in Jeddah.

But that's what all F1 teams and drivers are good at, playing down their chances when they know they are unbeatable, like Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton used to say in their recent dominant spell (2014-2020) about how tough their races were, where in fact they were driving around the others in circles.

Verstappen spoke in Red Bull's preview of the upcoming race in Saudi Arabia; he said: "After a great start in Bahrain I don't expect it to be an easy task in Jeddah, it is a completely different circuit and needs the car to be quick.

"Nevertheless, with the high-speed corners, I do believe we can have a strong car around this track. The track changes that have been made are mainly for visibility, so hopefully it has improved things a bit for us drivers, as it was definitely dangerous in some areas.

"It's a really cool street circuit, with quite a lot of grip, so I always enjoy going back there to race," the double F1 Champion added.

Perez had a decent start for his third season with Red Bull, not too far off Verstappen's qualifying pace in Bahrain and securing the one-two for his team coming second after his teammate.

The Mexican echoed Verstappen's sentiments, claiming their rivals' performances in Saudi Arabia would be different from Bahrain due to the high-speed nature of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Also previewing this weekend's race, Perez added: "We have to try and keep the momentum going from Bahrain. There are definitely a lot of improvements we can still do, to try and make our car better.

"We gathered plenty of information from the first race and we have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. It will be very interesting to see how everyone performs in Jeddah this week, it is a very different track to Bahrain.

"I am looking forward to going back to this circuit after getting pole in 2022. I was very unlucky last year with the timing of the safety car while leading the race so hopefully it can be my turn to win," Perez concluded.

While Perez started from pole in Jeddah last year, he finished the race fourth, as Verstappen took the win having started from fourth.

Red Bull scored their first points of 2022 in Jeddah after both cars suffered reliability issues at that year's Bahrain Grand Prix meaning both Verstappen and Perez failed to finish the race.

2023 though, has been a different affair for the energy drinks' outfit who seem to be in formidable form so far.