- Red Bull Racing is six races into what is now looking like a possible unbeaten Formula 1 campaign.
- The intrigue this weekend is likely to come from the three distant chasers, in particular struggling giants Mercedes and Ferrari, along with current runner-up Aston Martin.
- Each challenger has had various upgrade packages introduced, trialled and refined in recent weeks.
Red Bull Racing will almost certainly dominate this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
At a permanent circuit that teams know well, and where aerodynamic prowess is required, the team that has romped to all six wins so far in 2023 is the firm favorite to make it a perfect seven. Last year, Red Bull took a 1-2 finish, half a minute clear of the field, in a package that was less dominant than the RB19.
“I don’t think realistically we can fight for the victory, let’s be clear, Red Bull has been very dominant all season long so I don’t see any reason why in Barcelona they should not aim for 1-2,” said Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who is the highest-placed non-Red Bull driver in the championship, already 51 points behind Max Verstappen.
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Verstappen claimed his maiden F1 win in Barcelona in 2016, three years after Alonso took his most recent victory at the same venue.
When it was put to Verstappen that Red Bull could go through the year unbeaten, he said: “How it looks like at the moment, I think we can, but that’s very unlikely to happen. There are always things that go wrong, you have a retirement or whatever.”
The intrigue this weekend is likely to come from the three distant chasers, in particular struggling giants Mercedes and Ferrari, along with current runner-up Aston Martin, as various upgrade packages are introduced, trialled and refined. The focus is not necessarily on instant lap time gain—given long lead times in Formula 1—but on whether they give the teams a more stable platform for the remainder of 2023 and the consequent 2024 project.
Barcelona is a circuit where teams used to conduct thousands of miles of testing. It has a wide range of corners, including several medium- and high-speed turns, and is a more reliable source of data-gathering compared to the temporary or street-based circuits that have festooned the schedule so far in 2023, with the conventional opener in Bahrain followed by five such tracks. Of the remaining 16 circuits this year only three—Montreal, Singapore and Las Vegas—do not take place at a permanent facility.
Mercedes, only a point behind Aston Martin, introduced its updated W14 in Monaco, following Imola’s cancellation, with reshaped sidepods, a new floor, and amended suspension the most noteworthy elements. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were encouraged there, but are aware of the fact that Barcelona will provide a better read of the situation.
“I felt a little more confident in the car (in Monaco) and more ability to be able to commit to the corners so I’m hoping at that track it’s the same, or even better, as there’s more medium to high-speed corners,” said Hamilton. “There’s a huge amount of work that’s gone into this and hopefully this has put us on the right track that can lead to (reducing) that second (gap to Red Bull).
“We’ve taken note of where we are, where we’ve gone wrong, and we’re slowly chipping our way back to the front, it’s just a long process unfortunately.”
Russell explained that “when you look on Saturday performance, we’re certainly behind Aston Martin, Ferrari, sometimes the Alpine as well. Looking at Sunday, we’re a little bit closer to Aston Martin. It’ll be a good test this weekend. I think we can jump ahead of Ferrari, close that gap to Fernando, as he is definitely very fast, close the gap to Red Bull and get P2 in the constructors.’”
Ferrari is introducing upgrades in a bid to create a more stable platform for its SF-23. The car has been quick over a single lap, allowing Charles Leclerc to take the only non-Red Bull pole in Azerbaijan, but has struggled in race trim, where it has been slower than Aston Martin and Mercedes. Ferrari has only a single podium, and is fourth in the championship.
“We are not expecting any big miracles, to be honest,” cautioned Leclerc on the upgrades. “This (upgrade) should go in the right direction—but I don’t think it will be a massive change.”
Leclerc said that “we have an extremely peaky car that in qualifying, on one lap with the new tires, we know exactly how to drive the car, it’s okay, but as soon as we go a little bit out of those conditions, the car loses so much downforce overall.
“We have been working a lot on that with this new car. So this should help us to not gain that much performance, but to at least be a bit more consistent throughout the weekend, which hopefully will help us to have a better result on the Sunday.”
Leclerc conceded that “in the race, we are very far from Red Bull, and there’s big steps to do” but dismissed suggestions Ferrari needs a total rework.
“I don’t think it is that bad because in qualifying we’ve got a good car. In the race, we are very far. This we know. And that’s where we are putting our effort on.”
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