Dream debut for Verstappen
The 2023 Formula 1 season has been a record-breaking one for Dutch driver Max Verstappen and his Red Bull Racing team. The ultra-dominant team-driver package has worked wonders, continuing a cycle of success that began with authority when the latest cycle of technical and sporting regulations were put in place.
As the small world of F1 prepares for another technical cycle with the entry into force of new rules on the horizon for 2026, it is first necessary to deal with the current season, and Red Bull remains the team to beat. The Milton Keynes structure took everyone by surprise at the start of the season by choosing not to push the development of its single-seater too far, despite it being a conqueror in 2023, instead starting with numerous technical concepts that had never been introduced, while many rival teams were heavily inspired by the 2023 car in the design and general characteristics of their respective machines, without major innovations.
This is how Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez arrived at the start of the season with a car that was significantly different from what anyone could have expected. The tone was set right from the opening round in Bahrain: Verstappen took the win and the fastest lap; his Mexican teammate took second place: extremely reassuring, with a car that still had plenty of development potential. Third with the Ferrari, Carlos Sainz Jr. took third place on the podium. It was Ferrari that first appeared to be the main opposition force to Red Bull in the first rounds of the season. Once again the winner of the second round, Verstappen had to bow out to the Spaniard from the Prancing Horse team in the third race of the season, on the Australian circuit of Melbourne.
Still a clear domination by Red Bull
On paper, the fact that Max Verstappen has signed four more victories in a row after this “mishap” in Australia and dominates the championship with a clear mathematical lead, gives a rather dark reading of the suspense reigning over the chances of any other driver for the drivers’ title, and good chances of success for the forecasters who like to go to PARIONS SPORT. Nevertheless, an opposition force seems to be emerging against Red Bull and the recent successes of the triple world champion in title are more to his personal credit than to that of his equipment, as proven by the distant arrivals of Sergio Pérez and the difficulties encountered by Red Bull to always run such fluid races at the front without being threatened.
As proof, Ferrari and now McLaren regularly threaten and it could even be argued that McLaren currently has the most powerful car on the grid, in the hands of the British driver Lando Norris. Norris is convinced that success will come this season, and McLaren will be able to propose itself as the main rival to Red Bull. The two drivers were also in contact for the victory in the final kilometers of the race at the last event in Austria. The fact that Verstappen did not go it alone and was forced to really fight lap after lap against the McLaren driver suggests that the two young drivers will regularly cross swords in close proximity during the second half of the season.
Paul Monaghan, Red Bull’s technical director, explained in Barcelona that he felt that progress was approaching a ceiling: “We are reaching the asymptote”did he declare.
A way of saying that as the distance between two Red Bull performance curves and the competition decreases, the angle at which they approach each other becomes considerably smaller. The improvements made by the teams to reach the theoretical peak of the car’s performance diminish and the evolutions are less and less spectacular for the leading teams, allowing those behind to tighten the performance delta with the leader. “The rules are restrictive”adds Monaghan. “The budget cap is a little restrictive. I can complain about it forever. But we are potentially reaching the asymptote on this regulation.”
The difference will probably be found in the teams’ championship, as the drivers’ standings are already well underway after 11 rounds this season. With his 81-point lead at the top, Verstappen is heading towards a fourth world title that will be difficult for Lando Norris or Charles Leclerc to challenge. On the other hand, the solid driver associations at McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes as well as the very different dynamics depending on the races still promise great suspense in the teams’ championship. Red Bull certainly has a 64-point lead, Ferrari and McLaren can still, at the rate of a few points per event, threaten this position.
VIDEO – The summary of the Austrian GP
