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Formula 1: five affirmations after five dates of a season that promises little

2023-05-11T11:25:42.987Z

Highlights: Max Verstappen set the record for wins in a single Formula 1 season by reaching 15 and surpassing the 13 achieved by Germany's Michael Schumacher in 2004 and Sebastian Vettel in 2013. Only in Australia Checo Pérez could not get on the podium, which had Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) Red Bull already boasts its best start to the season and proves that its RB19 is even more dominant than the RB18 that accumulated 17 in 22 races in 2022.


The Red Bulls' crushing dominance doesn't leave much room for imagination, but the top flight can still deliver thrills.


Last year, Max Verstappen set the record for wins in a single Formula 1 season by reaching 15 and surpassing the 13 achieved by Germany's Michael Schumacher in 2004 and Sebastian Vettel in 2013. Despite that, the start of that World Championship was exciting because of the fight that Charles Leclerc gave to the Dutchman and that excited the Ferrari tifosi for a few months. This 2023, on the contrary, promises little because Red Bull was responsible for being unbeatable with its five wins in five dates and its four 1-2. Only in Australia Checo Pérez could not get on the podium, which had the two-time champion up and completed Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).

That crushing dominance was last seen in 2019, when Mercedes won the first eight races. Valtteri Bottas scored with two, while the rest were in charge of the English heptachampion, who that year obtained 11 victories, his personal best and also achieved in 2018 and 2020. Only on June 30, 2019, at the home of Red Bull in Austria, Verstappen broke with that hegemony.

Four years later, Red Bull already boasts its best start to the season and proves that its RB19 is even more dominant than the RB18 that accumulated 17 in 22 races in 2022. "Of course the RB18 was a great car for us. We took the learnings from that and applied them in '19 and I think it's all those elements that come together. There is no one thing, it is the culmination of everything working in harmony and in unison," Christian Horner summed up after the Miami GP on Sky Sports F1.

1. Red Bull's track supremacy: a magical DRS and no abandonment

Perez, Verstappen and the unbeatable RB19 in Miami. Photo EFE/EPA/CHANDAN KHANNA

When Verstappen crossed the finish line first on Sunday after starting ninth and Checo Pérez saw the chequered flag five seconds and a fraction later, Horner was left thinking "where are the others?" The RB19 took more than 20 seconds from the third member of the podium -Alonso-, margins that were repeated in the other races of the season. In Bahrain there were 38 seconds, in Saudi Arabia 20 and in Azerbaijan, 21. Even in Australia, where the GP ended with safety car, Verstappen had at one point opened up a lead of almost 12 seconds over Hamilton.

"Five races, five wins plus the sprint and four one-twos – we've never had a start like this and we ask ourselves 'where are the others?' -confessed the Red Bull team boss-. We are surprised that the others may have had a lower delivery than last year."

The aspect in which Red Bull perhaps distances itself most from its rivals is in its powerful DRS, which offers an advantage of around two-tenths of a second per lap over others using its own DRS. Just to put numbers: during his spectacular comeback in Miami, the championship leader had a speed advantage of 30 km / h passing Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso for fourth and second place, respectively.

There is another key, which responds to a concern that had generated at the beginning of last season: reliability. Unlike in 2022, when its two drivers abandoned the first test, in Bahrain, after five rounds Red Bull is the only team that did not abandon.

In total, there were 15 retirements in the four initial tests: three in Bahrain (including Leclerc's Ferrari), two in Jeddah, the incredible sum of eight in the rugged grand prix played at Melbourne Park – where Alpine and Williams ended up without their two cars – and just two in the street map of Baku.

Only in the classification Red Bull does not give the same security. Although he made four poles, in Baku Ferrari was again the fastest car with one lap to go, while in Miami Leclerc's accident canceled Q3 when the best times were sought and gave the first place on the grid to Checo Pérez. "We have a decent lead, especially in the race. During a lap on some tracks, definitely, some cars will be close or in front, as you could see in Baku," Verstappen argued.


2. Max Verstappen, the irrefutable king

With 119 points, Verstappen is the leader of the World Championship. He took 14 points from Checo Pérez and 44 from the third, Fernando Alonso. REUTERS Photo/Ricardo Arduengo

At 25 years old and with two titles on his shoulders, Verstappen is no longer MadMax although he has not lost his fierceness on the track. With driving solidity and the best car on the grid, the Dutchman won the two races in which he started from pole (Bahrain and Australia) but also staged memorable comebacks.

The first was on March 19, when the winner was his teammate but Verstappen advanced from 15th to second place. After the poor performance of his Red Bull in qualifying, the Dutchman got rid of all his rivals like posts; only Checo represented an impossible mission, although he gave himself the pleasure – challenging his track engineer – to take the fastest lap to finish the weekend as leader of the championship.

The other occurred last Sunday in the first of three tests this year in the United States. He advanced from ninth to first place, which he reached on turn 21 and recovered on turn 47 after entering the pits two laps earlier, and maintained his streak in Miami, where he had already won last year in the inaugural edition of the circuit. "I managed to stay on track for a long time on the hard tyres and that made the difference. Winning after starting ninth is very satisfying", analyzed who only in Azerbaijan could not climb positions with respect to his starting grid (2nd).


3. Ferrari's karma: being the fastest at one lap and not performing afterwards

In the first place. Leclerc's Ferrari in qualifying in Baku. Photo NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP

When it seemed to have stepped forward, the Scuderia backed down again in Miami. The improvements shown in Baku (with Leclerc's pole and podium finish), after the four-week break, turned into uncertainty a week later on the other side of the Atlantic and Ferrari closed the weekend as the fourth force in the Constructors' World Championship.

Leclerc and Carlos Sainz acknowledged that the SF-23 still does not deliver consistent performance and tyre management continues to be a big issue. "We are working to solve the problem. We must understand why we are so competitive in qualifying but we lack pace in the race. I hope that a step forward can be taken with the developments that must come soon. It's really important because now we're very, very far away," the Monegasque said.

"We lack consistency," added the seventh-placed finisher but almost a minute behind Verstappen. The behavior changes from curve to curve, we go from a strong oversteer to an equally strong understeer. In addition, we suffered a lot from the influence of the wind, and as far as I was concerned, in the race I found the car jumping, and that is something that had never happened to me during free practice and qualifying."

His teammate acknowledged: "We fought for pole on Saturday; And then, Sunday comes along and they slap us a little bit in the race." "We can push one lap and then the next one you're slower and you don't know why. Then you put your foot up and try not to jeopardize the end of the race," explained the Spanish rider, who was fifth at more than half a minute.


4. The fight to be second: Alonso guides Aston Martin but Mercedes is excited

Aston Martin and Mercedes shared the podium at the Australian GP for the third round. Photo EFE/EPA/JOEL CARRETT

Thinking of a podium before the season started was "almost unbelievable" for Aston Martin; Five dates later, he already has four. "Now we want more; maybe a second place, "said Fernando Alonso, responsible for putting Lawrence Stroll's team in the surprising second place of the World Championship.

In Miami, however, the team let valuable points escape in its fight with Mercedes, which cut the distance to six, because the 15 achieved by the two-time Spanish champion did not receive support in Lance Stroll (he was 12th) and were beaten by the 20 achieved between George Russell (4th) and Hamilton (6th). "We lost some points to Mercedes, who put their two cars in the points; But we will recover them in the next races, "said the Spaniard.

A not minor fact is that in the next appointment (in Imola on May 21), Mercedes will take an important update with changes in the pontoons, the floor and the front suspension. "What we are doing is introducing a new body, a new floor and a new front suspension. It's a pretty big operation. Big surgery," Toto Wolff explained.

"We have to manage our own expectations," the team boss warned. In my 15 years in F1 I have never seen a silver bullet suddenly unlock half a second of performance. So I doubt very much that that's going to happen here. But what I hope is that we take certain variables off the table." Russell also spoke sparingly: "Hopefully this is positive. It's not going to change the world for us anytime soon, but hopefully it's a step in the right direction."


5. McLaren and Alpine roam and Haas surprises in the midfield

The star of the series Drive to Survive (Netflix) achieved an upgrade at Haas. Photo Patrick T. FALLON / AFP

Who knew that Haas, the worst team in Formula 1 in 2021 – finished last without points – would join the midfield, just a few points behind the mighty McLaren and Alpine? That's right: with eight units, the Americans are separated by only six with two of the champion teams in the category.

Those led by Guenther Steiner took off from the bottom, where Williams (1) and AlphaTauri (2) are -Alfa Romeo has 6-, thanks to the top 10 in Saudi Arabia (Kevin Magnussen, 10th), Australia (Nico Hulkenberg, 7th) and Miami (Magnussen, 10th). In addition, they left behind the frequent abandonments – only that of the Danish pilot in Melbourne – and crashes – only during a training in Miami due to an error of the German.

McLaren, which scored 12 of its 14 points at the Australian GP, had a dismal performance on Sunday, with Lando Norris 17th and Oscar Piastri 19th and retiring. "The main conclusion is that after a decent weekend in Baku from a performance point of view, we have had a reality check," warned sporting director Andrea Stella.

In Alpine it is added that they suffer criticism inside. Laurent Rossi, general director of the French team, said the start of the World Cup "is disappointing, it is really negative". "Our position in the standings is not worthy of the resources we spend, and we are quite far, if not far away, from the final goal this year," he said.

Otmar Szafnauer, F1 team principal, acknowledged that in Baku they were not "up to the task", that "in Australia the drivers collided" and that in the first race of the season they took "a lot of penalties, starting with Ocon, who was out of his starting box".

"It hasn't been a smooth start to the season and maybe that's why Rossi has made those comments. But I have to read them to better understand what they are about, "he argued in Miami, where Gasly (8th) and Ocon (9th) returned to the top 10 achieved in Arabia -in inverted positions-.


In 10 days, the next round and the same old question: Can anyone with the Red Bulls?

Christian Horner knows he has the best duo in the best car. Photo LISI NIESNER / POOL / AFP

Formula 1 will resume in Europe, from May 19 to 21, with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Horner said: "We have a great car, a great team, two great drivers, but there is still a long way to go, so let's reserve judgment until after we see what they show up with in Imola and Barcelona. They will certainly look to address that and I'm sure that, starting with Imola, we'll see great updates."

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Source: clarin

All news articles on 2023-05-11

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