Title fight between three teams?
Red Bull’s Formula 1 team will probably have a tougher job in 2023 to become world champion again. That is what Red Bull’s chief designer Adrian Newey expects. According to him, Ferrari and Mercedes will come out stronger this year.
Where Red Bull and Max Verstappen fought a titanic battle with Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in 2021, things went relatively smoothly in 2022. Verstappen won a record number of races and Red Bull secured its first Constructors’ Championship since 2013 with a few races to go. Things won’t go that fast this year, thinks Adrian Newey. The legendary F1 designer is counting on a tough battle to offer Ferrari and Mercedes a rebuttal.
Although Red Bull has a very good basis with the RB18 on which to develop further, it can make much less use of the wind tunnel this year than the competitors. That’s the ‘curse’ of becoming constructors’ champions, but Red Bull gets even less time due to exceeding the budget cap in 2021. Newey expects it to have quite an effect all in all: “It means we can test fewer different parts and ideas ‘, he explains Motorsport.com. According to him, there is a chance that it will not be too bad, but then Red Bull must immediately hit the bull’s eye with the development.
In addition, Newey sees danger in the competitors: “Ferrari does not sit still and solves their weak points. They come back completely. And of course you saw that Mercedes started with a car that was too slow, but evolved into a car that could win .” All in all, Newey (in addition to the RB19) already outlines a ‘difficult year’ for Red Bull. On March 5, we will get a first sign whether Newey is right. Then is the first race of the new season, the Bahrain Grand Prix. The winter test is already from 23 to 25 February, also in Bahrain.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl