The emerging pattern developing from recent form in Formula 1 suggests Red Bull is now consistently quick enough on conventional circuits to potentially play a disruptive role in what remains of the championship fight.
Of course it is still the case that if Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg do a good job and are not derailed by technical problems, lost track time, or set-up blind alleys, they should qualify on the front row and win every race from now until the end of the season.
But it's been the case in the past that they could afford to have unclean weekends and still emerge at the head of the pack - such is the competitive advantage Mercedes has enjoyed since V6 hybrid engines arrived in F1 for 2014.