No wonder the starting field is even. Everybody copied Red Bull or Ferrari, Verstappen is clear

Formula 1 kicked off the new season at the beginning of March. The Bahrain Grand Prix, as the opening round of the 2023 season, was dominated by both Red Bull drivers, who drove to a double. But Max Verstappen was stumped by the evenness of the starting grid, especially in qualifying. According to him, this is due to the copying of the Austrian team’s cars.

As for the results themselves, the new season opener, or rather the Bahrain Grand Prix, didn’t seem all that interesting. However, the fans did see some beautiful duels on the track, such as the battle between two legends Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

In short, the race at the Sakhir circuit was certainly not boring. Saturday’s qualifying session was also very attractive, especially the first part.

At the end of Q1, the grid was split by just 1.2 seconds. The Dutch Red Bull driver Max Verstappen believes that the more competitive field is due to the fact that most teams have taken their cue from the Red Bull, and by extension Ferrari, techological concept.

Helmut Marko, as the current team advisor to Red Bull Racing and head of the driver development programme, for example, described Aston Martin as a green Red Bull.

In any case, how did the double champion Verstappen comment on the balance of the starting field?

It’s not really a surprise

“It’s not really a surprise. If you look at most of the cars, they all copy each other, so with the same regulations, they’re all getting smarter over the years anyway,” said Verstappen, quoted by Motorsport.

“And when you see one car in particular doing quite well over the years, you try to copy some things, so naturally everyone gets closer and understands the car a bit better in general,” he explained.

Fernando Alonso, who finished third in the Bahrain Grand Prix to finish on the podium, also added that you need to have the right people in charge, a vision and clear ambitions. And Verstappen agreed with the Spanish legend.

“If you have the right people in charge who really want to win and hire the right people, anything is possible,” he concluded.

F1, Motorsport