The headache Verstappen is giving Red Bull

For lap after lap in the Eifel Grand Prix, it was the same story: the two Mercedes cars shot past Autosport's media centre vantage point parallel to the pit straight, chased relentlessly by a single rival.

Of course, Valtteri Bottas's off-track mistake and then MGU-H-induced retirement ended the metronomic feeling to the opening phase of Formula 1's most recent race, but Max Verstappen's determined pursuit did not change. He hustled his RB16 after Lewis Hamilton for the rest of the contest, in a different pace league to the rest.

It was basically the same story in both races in Austria, where a power unit problem stopped Verstappen challenging Bottas for victory on a potentially stronger contra-strategy in the first event. Then in Hungary, twice again at Silverstone - where of course he won the 70th Anniversary GP, turning pursuit into attack - Spain and Spa it was the same story. Power issues struck twice in Italy, taking Verstappen out of an already unlikely title challenge, although it should be noted that his Monza weekend had been messy before his retirement, while normal service then resumed in Russia.

Verstappen is consistently delivering great performances. In 2020 he is able to keep a watching brief on the actions of his rivals in what may go down as one of F1's greatest ever cars. The rest, including his team-mate Alex Albon, usually can't even keep the Mercedes drivers in sight without race interruptions.

This gives Red Bull a problem - although from a pretty good starting point.

PLUS: The challenge of emulating Verstappen in the same car

Albon is surely underperforming given the mistakes he has logged this season - his part in the 50-50 clash with Kevin Magnussen in the British GP felt needless, and he was rightly penalised for taking Daniil Kvyat's front wing off last time out at the Nurburgring - but he is not a slow driver. Far from it, in fact.

Verstappen's ability to deliver in what is clearly a difficult car to drive is exaggerating the gap between the pair, but this is an example of Verstappen's potential greatness. He's taking a car that Red Bull now acknowledges has had an aerodynamic instability since its birth - as evidenced by the number of mid-corner spins both drivers had in testing, which continued throughout the early part of the season - and is still achieving the maximum results.

Given that Red Bull has been outqualified by teams behind it in the constructors' championship on occasion - such as at the Hungaroring and Monza - and Albon has not been able to simply bank P4 behind the regular 2020 frontrunners, it suggests Verstappen may even be over-delivering.

It's worth considering Verstappen's performances in the context of this month's news that Honda will be leaving F1 at the end of 2021. It has said it will continue to push, committing to introducing an all-new engine for next year, but this is nevertheless a blow to Red Bull's ambition to finally topple Mercedes.

PLUS: Why Honda's exit will not force F1 hybrid U-turn

Verstappen wants to win the championship. And, right now, he can't at Red Bull - with the same story surely set to be repeated in 2021 given the plans to carryover the majority of the current cars as part of the coronavirus cost-saving plans

And that ambition surely has Verstappen at its front and centre - which is why the team signed the 23-year-old to a long-term contract at the start of this year that will keep him onboard until 2023 ends. At the time, Honda had said it would stay in F1 only until the point where it will now leave, with the looming need to cut costs already apparent, which left Verstappen sensing the engine manufacturer's F1 exit was coming.

But the championship challenging desire is, of course, a shared one.

Verstappen knows how good he is. He immediately looked comfortable in the grand prix sphere when he famously arrived as a 17-year-old in 2015 - and he has since gone on to produce the results that will keep him at the pinnacle of motorsport for many years to come. Potentially, even long enough to challenge the overall victory tally Hamilton will surely extend in his remaining F1 years, should he get the machinery that leads to domination in the right hands...

He has developed into Red Bull's undisputed team leader - shouldering that responsibility with ease. This was encapsulated by his efforts to repay the team's hard work in repairing his car on the grid in Hungary after his only major error of the season so far - that pre-race shunt in the wet.

But Verstappen wants to win the championship. And, right now, he can't at Red Bull - with the same story surely set to be repeated in 2021 given the plans to carryover the majority of the current cars as part of the coronavirus cost-saving plans.

Red Bull is improving the RB16 - as evidenced by its upgrades to boost front-end performance, introduced among other tweaks, at the Nurburgring, which Verstappen said meant "the car definitely improved". Then there's the move to cut F1 downforce levels by 10% for next year. But this is not taking place in isolation and the W11 is already ahead by a clear margin.

So, naturally, Red Bull and Verstappen, who it must be said has not been critical of his team despite another year passing since it was last a bonafide title contender in 2013, will look to the delayed rules reset in 2022 as their chance. Of course, they must be given the benefit of the doubt that they can seize that opportunity, but they must finally stamp out the team's tendency to start seasons on the backfoot and improve from there. That was a key aim for the current campaign, which was missed.

PLUS: What Red Bull needs to beat Mercedes

There have been suggestions, which you'll be able to discover in our celebratory 70th anniversary bookazine, out next month, that Mercedes may have come into 2020 battling severe engine reliability issues had the season begun as expected in March, following its issues in winter testing. In that case, Red Bull may have been able to capitalise early on - although that assumes it not having its own reliability concerns, as it did in the eventual season opener.

Red Bull needs to give Verstappen a world beating car, and fast. By 2022, his deal will have just a year to go, which would give him considerable negotiating power, and it's not so hard to imagine the team that once courted him as a rapidly rising star in Formula 3 doing so again. That squad's name? Mercedes.