The Red Bull carrying No 1 is the car nine other teams are plotting to beat. Photo / Don Kennedy
It has been four weeks since the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne saw Red Bull make it three wins out of three Formula One races.
The only thing that might have stopped world champion Max Verstappen from winning there would have been a problem in one of the three re-starts that created a chaotic finish to the race, which left some pundits questioning, not for the first time, the FIA’s decision-making during a race.
But with Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez having finished 1-2 in the first two races, the other nine teams on the grid are wondering what they can do to prevent a repeat of 2022, when the team won 17 races out of 22, with 15 victories for Verstappen and two for Perez.
Thanks to the Chinese GP in Shanghai being cancelled due to Covid, the teams have had an unexpected four-week break early in the season, and a chance to evaluate and re-calculate what has gone right and what’s gone wrong, so far.
When racing resumes in this weekend’s Azerbaijan GP in Baku, all the teams will likely bring upgrades. Will they be enough to either stop, or at least try to fend off, the Red Bull charge?
The defending champions have a good record at the Baku circuit, Perez winning in 2021 when Verstappen had a tyre burst whilst leading with two laps to go, and last year Verstappen led Perez home in a Red Bull 1-2.
They currently lead Aston Martin by 58 points in the Constructors’ championship, with Mercedes third. Fernando Alonso, having switched from Alpine to Aston Martin when Sebastian Vettel retired, has finished third in the first three races, making Aston Martin the surprise of the year so far, and leading to some light-hearted jibes from Red Bull, who consider the AMR23 bears a striking resemblance to the design of the Red Bull.
There is little doubt that the majority team owner of Aston Martin, Lawrence Stroll, has been able to get his team towards the front of the grid by studying the Red Bull and changing their car accordingly, whilst being careful not to create a carbon copy.
But according to ex-Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat, that is what the others may have to do to compete with the current champions. Appearing on a Track Limits podcast, Kvyat was asked if his former team could keep up its current dominance.
“Now people understand that the only way to beat them is to copy their car. Finally, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
‘’I think they definitely will this year, maybe next year finally people will catch up, but this year still looks way ahead of everyone. Maybe towards the end of the year with development people will be able to get closer, but I still think yeah, they are obviously dominating. Also Honda, the engine has been great, and they have everything they need.”
Kvyat has predicted the remainder of the season to be “boring”.
“But the next one may be more interesting when Mercedes and Ferrari will step up the game, understand what pieces to copy. Then it will probably be more interesting.”
Kvyat was a teammate of Daniel Ricciardo when he joined Red Bull in 2014, and now Ricciardo is back at Red Bull, but only as a reserve driver.
Recalling his time at Red Bull, Kvyat says Ricciardo was “like a big superstar, and when I came into the team, he had just beat Vettel so there was a lot of hype around him in the team and everywhere,” he noted. “So everyone was like, ‘yeah, he’s the man to beat now’. He’s probably the best driver on the grid right now.”
“Now it’s different, of course, but back then he was top-notch. My impression of him was the man at the time, very funny personally so very attractive for media - bit too much for me but no, we got along well,” Kvyat added.
Ricciardo insists he will be back on the grid next year, but It’s not clear which team may have an opening for him. Guenther Steiner, the Haas team principal, says it may be up to the Australian to decide what’s best for him in 2024.
“I think he’s doing the right thing to take a year out,” Steiner says. “I mean, he’s still a reserve driver for Red Bull, he can be around cars, he can be in the circus. You know, because out of sight, out of mind. So he’s still there. He is still pretty young, you know. A lot of people like him because of his personality.”
Lewis Hamilton, who is yet to secure a deal with his Mercedes team for next year, has been staggered by the straight-line speed that the Red Bull has. In Melbourne, Verstappen was happy to sit behind Hamilton for part of the race, but when he decided to overtake, it was easily around the outside of Hamilton’s Mercedes, which was the second-quickest car in that race.
“It’s just insane,” Hamilton suggests. ‘They’re just in another league and until we pick up speed on the straight like they have, and have the crazy down-force that they have through the corners, that’s how it’s going to continue.”
Back in 2014 and through to 2021, Hamilton’s comments could easily have been attributed to his rivals, given the eight-year dominance his Mercedes team enjoyed at the time.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his team is working hard to bring updates to the car to close the gap.
“We have defined a clear direction where we need to go, and I believe we are on the right trajectory,” Wolff says on the team website.
But Hamilton thinks it could take the rest of the year to catch up.
“I just hope this task doesn’t prove too big. It will certainly take the rest of the year to possibly close the gap,” Hamilton surmises. “It can take a long time to catch another car. I’m aware of that. And Red Bull is very likely to be developed further.”
Former F1 team principal Joan Villadelprat has labelled Hamilton a “spoiled little boy”.
“Hamilton is fed up and, if he doesn’t win, he’s like a spoiled little boy: you either win or you break the toys,” Villadelprat suggested.
“He’s a whiner, you know. The tyres, the strategy, he questions everything, and he screwed up. When you have a teammate who is faster than you, it is normal to be quiet and put your head under your wing.”
That teammate is George Russell, who has out-qualified Hamilton in the three races to date but suffered reliability issues in Melbourne, in a race he led at the start.
Hamilton has not yet renewed his Mercedes contract, with some suggesting he is waiting to see how the car performs from here on before committing.
So would Steiner consider him for next year, given Kevin Magnussen and F1 returnee Nico Hulkenberg are only on one-year deals?
‘’If Toto pays his salary, yes absolutely! You have to write that now! When Toto asks why he should pay the salary, I’ll say, ‘because you should!’” Steiner said.
Planet F1 has filed a report on what former Bridgestone tyre competition head Kees van de Grint says about the dominance of his compatriot Verstappen. “His dominance is actually not good for the sport, but you can’t blame him, you have to blame the rest of it,” van de Grint says.
“I give it to Verstappen to win all the races, but I am also a fan of the sport and would prefer to see some battle, not that we already know halfway through the season that he is world champion.”
Having described Verstappen as being “too fast and too good”, van de Grint notes he “also gets better, helped by the good car he has. What I have said still stays: he has no resistance”.
Verstappen is no fan of sprint races, and there will be one in Baku. The problem with a street race is that it is easy to get involved in a crash and destroy or damage the car for the main event. But for Baku, and the other five sprint races to be held during the year, the FIA has changed the format. On the Friday, there will be a practice followed by qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix. On Saturday, the drivers qualify for the sprint race, which then follows. The theory is that the drivers will go for it more in the sprint race knowing the outcome won’t determine their place on the grid for the Grand Prix itself.
But Verstappen is still not in favour.
“I’m not a fan of it at all,” he says. “I think when we’re going to do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes even more intense and we’re already doing so many races.”
“Even if you change the format, I don’t find it’s the DNA of Formula One to do these kind of sprint races. F1′s about getting the most out of it in qualifying and then having an amazing Sunday, good long race distances.”
If Verstappen has an Achilles heel, perhaps sprint races are it, but it is hard to imagine he won’t go for the win, irrespective of his negativity towards the concept. He goes to Baku with a 15-point lead over Perez in the championship.
By about 2pm, police determined the package posed no threat.