Hakkinen hails 'fantastic fight' in Jeddah, but Mercedes must act quickly

Two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen was thrilled with the track action provided by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in Saudi Arabia, but the Finn says Mercedes needs to quickly get its act together to catch up with Red Bull and Ferrari.

For the second race in succession, Verstappen and Leclerc were in a league of their own at the front of the field, but after the Ferrari drivers' triumph in Bahrain, it was the Dutchman who had the last work in Jeddah after a fierce fight that blended DRS strategy and driving skills.

"This was a fantastic fight for the victory," Hakkinen wrote in his column for Unibet.

"We saw the very best of Charles and Max out there, and it's great to see how evenly matched they are. There is clearly a good level of respect between them and they trust each other when racing so closely.

"The way they both used the DRS (Drag Reduction System) to try and give themselves a strategic advantage on each lap was fascinating, but ultimately Charles was unable to break away from Max.

"I thought Max timed everything just perfectly in the end, although to win by half a second after 300km of racing shows just how close their battle is."

• Read also: Mercedes underperformance 'an exercise in humility' – Wolff

The early domination this season by Red Bull and Ferrari has signaled a "power shift" according to Hakkinen, with F1's development race likely to determine the outcome of the battle between the two front-runners.

"After two races we can see that there has been a power shift in Formula 1," said the 53-year-old Finn.

"We knew from the opening race in Bahrain that Charles Leclerc is looking incredibly strong at Ferrari, well supported by teammate Carlos Sainz.

"But now that Red Bull seem to have to have solved the fuel vaporisation problem which caused both cars to retire from the first race, they are just as competitive.

"It's brilliant to see Ferrari and Red Bull so closely matched, so the question is now to see which one of them can develop their car more quickly.

"The development race Monday to Saturday is going to really determine who wins on the Sunday."

Hakkinen hasn't discarded Mercedes, the manufacturer that powered him to all of his twenty wins in F1, despite the team's lackluster performance in Jeddah, where George Russell finished fifth and where Lewis Hamilton collected only a solitary point.

But the former McLaren driver insists Mercedes urgently needs to get a hand on the issues impacting its W13 Silver Arrow, namely the car's chronic porpoising troubles.

"Mercedes have a significant set of problems to fix if they are to catch up with Red Bull and Ferrari," commented Hakkinen.

"They need to do it quite quickly because the top two teams are going to be pushing so hard on their own development.

"It was very strange to see the Mercedes cars starting fifth and 16th, with Lewis Hamilton clearly unhappy with the set-up of his car."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter