F1 Team Performance: Red Bull will be the main favourite again this year. Will Verstappen take his third championship in a row?

The entire formula world is waiting for the five red lights to go out in Bahrain to officially kick off the new season of the queen of motorsport. We can expect Red Bull to lead the field again this year as they defend the Constructors’ Cup. Team leader Max Verstappen also wants to attack the absolute lead and the golden hat-trick.

Red Bull in 2022

Almost flawless. Seventeen wins from twenty-two races, shared by Verstappen and Sergio Pérez at a ratio of fifteen to two, are proof of that. In addition, the Dutch driver’s performance has made his mark on the historical charts.

German legends Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher have had the most wins so far this season, finishing first a total of thirteen times in their championship seasons. It should be added that back then the F1 season had fewer grand prix, and therefore both champions from Germany are more successful in percentage terms.

Thanks to Verstappen’s one-man show, the stable also dominated the Constructors’ Cup. And it did so in an utterly sovereign way. Red Bull scored over 200 championship points on the second Ferrari and celebrated the win with three races to go. The bar is set very high.

Budget ceiling problems and penalties

For several months there has been speculation that the team around Verstappen had breached the budget cap in 2021. These allegations were subsequently proven to be true and the stable had to pay the penalty.

In October, it was revealed that the Austrian outfit had exceeded the $145 million limit by 1.6 per cent, and with the $7 million fine came a wind tunnel time restriction. Specifically, it is a ten percent reduction in the already severely restricted access that the first team has.

The pair of riders

Remains unchanged and very strong. Importantly, the words directly from Red Bull also speak of a car concept more suited to the team’s duo, Pérez. Last year, “Checo” finished third in the end, also because of a controversial moment in Brazil, where Verstappen refused to let go of his teammate on the finishing straight.

In 2023, the “Red Bulls” will try to reach the first and second place among the drivers. The Mexican-Dutch duo are among the main favourites this season and the car they have been given by chief engineer Adrian Newey looks incredibly fast again.

This year’s monopost

As the previous words suggest, the RB19 monopost poses a real threat to the opposition. This was confirmed by the test results, in which Pérez set the fastest time of all. While we can only speculate on how much fuel each formula was fueled with, this result is a sure sign.

Based on simulations of qualifying and race pace, Red Bull will lead the field. The monocoque itself hasn’t changed much from last year. To twist a saying from the sporting world, “The winning monoposto doesn’t change.”

As in 2022, we find aggressively cut side skirts on the car, which proved to be the path to success last year. The lower part of the monopost has been strengthened, as the engineers had to respond to a regulation concerning the floor.

“Every time I jumped in the car, I felt comfortable and I could go full throttle straight away,” said defending champion Verstappen of the car with which he will attempt to win a third consecutive world title. In an interview with F1’s official website, the Dutchman praised those who built this year’s formula.

The year 2023

In some ways, this season may act as a sporting parallel to last year’s. Even the bookmakers trust Red Bull the most, to the point where the odds of Max Verstappen winning the title are less than 2:1.

We probably won’t see as big a solo drive from the double world champion this year as last year. But even by the word of the entire community around the F1 paddock, we can expect boss Christian Horner’s team to be hard to beat, let alone beat regularly.

Sources