SAKHIR, Bahrain -- Max Verstappen believes the development race between the top two teams will ultimately decide this year's drivers' championship between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
After two races, Hamilton and Vettel are level on points in the drivers' championship having won one race each and finished second at the other. Mercedes and Ferrari appear to be a class above Verstappen's Red Bull team, but he believes any driver would look good in one the two lead cars and ultimately the pace of the car -- and not driver talent -- will decide the title.
"Everybody looks great when they have a good car," he said. "I don't know [who will win between Hamilton and Vettel], I think they are both very quick but it just depends on the development from the car who will end up on top.
"Everybody here in the paddock, if you give them the fastest car then they will look great."
Verstappen is still hopeful Red Bull will close the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari as the season progresses, but says engine supplier Renault needs to make a step forward too.
"The cars are still very new so the improvements can be bigger than in previous years when you run out of development a bit. But also from the engine side, we need to improve still quite a bit, so it's a bit of both at the moment.
"It will be the same [in Bahrain], I think. I don't know, maybe at the end of the race instead of being 40 seconds behind we are 38 or 42. But I don't think there will be any difference."