Former Ferrari and Williams team manager Peter Windsor suggests that all the teams should feel a sense of embarrassment in light of Red Bull’s ongoing dominance this year
After completing 14 races in the 2023 Formula 1 championship, Red Bull maintains an undefeated streak heading into the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix, which will take place next weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Max Verstappen, in particular, has secured victory in 12 races this F1 campaign, with ten of those victories occurring consecutively. This achievement surpassed Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive wins, a milestone recently achieved at the Italian Grand Prix. While Scuderia Ferrari’s efforts to challenge Red Bull at Monza in front of the Tifosi were arguably the most formidable among all teams, they still fell short, as the Maranello team had to settle for third and fourth place in Italy. There is a genuine belief and concern that the Austrian side could complete an entire season without a single defeat, an unprecedented feat in the sport’s history.
Red Bull’s dominance is marked by their consistent performance at all types of circuits, setting them apart from the competition.
Peter Windsor raises a pertinent question: if it weren’t for Red Bull, there would be concerns about why no other team can maintain consistent performance since the introduction of the new aerodynamic regulations. Red Bull stands alone in their ability to consistently optimize their car’s performance, leading the ex-Ferrari and Williams team manager to question whether other teams have approached the current regulations incorrectly. If this isn’t the case, Windsor wonders if some teams may have made ill-advised personnel decisions.
“The way the regulations have been drawn up for these cars, the way nine of the 10 teams have approached it…we’re now [in] 2023, they’ve had three years of working with this thing and they still can’t get the cars to work properly and consistently over a season,” – the Formula One journalist explained during a recent YouTube live stream – “If it wasn’t for Red Bull you’d have to be saying: ‘There’s something wrong here. All these incredible Formula 1 teams with their sophisticated technology cannot get this thing to work on a consistent basis.” – he added.
“But Red Bull are showing that it is possible and therefore all the other teams have got the wrong approach. Either the wrong approach to hiring the people they’re using to do the analysis and to design the cars, or they’re unable to put what could well be a very good aerodynamic package into practical use because there are so many new variables that have arisen because of the budget gap, because of the limitations on CFD design and because of all the other stuff that comes with that, including the sprint race format. Given all those constraints, Red Bull have shown that it is possible still to do a great racing car consistently from one race to another, so as long as Red Bull are showing that everybody else needs to hang their head in shame basically, I think.” – Peter Windsor concluded.
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