MOTORSPORT NEWS - Formula One title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel should both be wary of resurgent Red Bull after Max Verstappen's victory in Malaysia at the weekend.
While the Dutch 20-year-old and his Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo are not championship contenders, they could yet be kingmakers.
How they fare in the remaining five races may play a big part in determining whether the drivers' crown ends up at Mercedes or Ferrari, even if Hamilton looks the clear favourite.
With the Briton now 34 points ahead of Ferrari rival Vettel and 125 points left to be won, any further success for Red Bull would help tilt the title towards Hamilton unless he suffers misfortune.
Hamilton is almost at the point where a string of second places would be enough for him to be world champion for a fourth time, even if Vettel were to finish first in every remaining race.
Assuming Hamilton keeps up his impressive run of 20 successive scoring finishes, Vettel needs to win repeatedly and be supported by teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
Even then, three Ferrari one-two finishes in succession would still see Hamilton lead the championship into the penultimate round if he finishes third every time.
Were Verstappen and Ricciardo to become the filling in a red and silver sandwich, finishing behind the two Ferraris but ahead of the Mercedes pair, then that would change everything.
That may just be wishful thinking on the part of Ferrari fans stunned by their team's recent implosion – both drivers colliding at the start in Singapore and then handicapped by power unit problems in Malaysia.
Few will need reminding that Hamilton has won the US Grand Prix, a race yet to come, five times in the past six years and ended 2016 with four wins in a row.
