Fireworks, says Christian Horner, when asked what he expects from this Formula One season, but he is not talking about the explosion everyone expects.
Lewis Hamilton versus Max Verstappen; Mercedes versus Red Bull — well, that is a given. We know the recent history that still smarts, we know the rivalry that built and built until last year's stunning denouement in Abu Dhabi. Snarkiness abounds.
Verstappen still doubts Mercedes' doom-laden assessments of their competitiveness this year; Hamilton is still insistent the FIA report into the race that decided last season's championship should be published. There is little respect on either side, and zero trust.
The F1 campaign begins on Sunday, 98 days after Max Verstappen controversially won the title
Yet these are not the sparks intriguing Horner. He is more interested in Hamilton's fledgling relationship with his new team-mate George Russell.
In any other season their partnership would surely be the hot topic. It is only the soap opera of last season's finish that has diverted attention from the delicate act of balancing Hamilton's status with the ambitions of his young colleague.
'They call them team-mates, but that's one thing they are absolutely not,' Horner said, with only the merest hint of mischief.
'The guy in the other car is dictating your worth, your value because he's the only one with the same equipment, so he is the guy you're always measured against.
George Russell made it clear he has not joined Mercedes to act as Lewis Hamilton's wingman
'For Mercedes, it's a different dynamic to the one they've had for four or five years with Valtteri Bottas. George Russell is a quick lad. He's young, ambitious, he's not going to just be Lewis's wingman.
'He knows if he gets beaten up over the next two years that then defines his value going forward. Against that, if he wins some races and becomes a challenger, that then elevates him.
'Look at the next 10 years of the sport — Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris — George is part of that group. He'll want to maintain that.'
Verstappen has long insisted Hamilton had it all his own way at Mercedes because Bottas was the lesser driver. Russell is not. His huge promise is the reason Mercedes have made the switch now, at the risk of upsetting the equilibrium.
Hamilton still insists that the FIA report into the final of race last season should be published
Equally, they know Hamilton is completing the final laps of his career and want a successor ready. Russell is that man.
'It's a harder gameplan with
