Never shy of giving his predictions for Formula 1, Helmut Marko has gone on record to say he expects Mercedes' recent pace advantage over Red Bull to no longer exist once we get to the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.
The last two races have seen Max Verstappen and the Bulls rather hit for six with Lewis Hamilton's sheer speed in his Mercedes proving too hot for them and anyone else to handle.
Indeed, with two races to go, there are just eight points between the title rivals and many are suggesting that it's actually Hamilton in second place that looks the favourite for the championship because of recent form.
That's been reinforced by the suggestion that our next destination, the high-speed street circuit in Jeddah, will be another Mercedes stronghold, especially with them set to bring the Brazil engine back to Hamilton's car, but Marko isn't so sure that will be the case.
With words that'll be music to the ears of Verstappen fans and potentially concerning for Hamilton supporters, the Austrian reckons that it'll be level-pegging between the two cars in terms of outright speed:
“Saudi Arabia is called a Mercedes job, but how often did things like this come out this year? We just have to win there,” he said to Servus TV.
“What I heard from Hermann Tilke, the track designer, is that they are fast sweeps, but they are not absolute straights.
“A lot will depend on the performance of the tyres, as we saw in Qatar.
“Mercedes is no longer superior in top speed."
