A Red Bull that has spread its wings
After just five races in the 2023 Formula 1 season – little over 20% of the scheduled races – the suspicion that we will witness a Red Bull solo is more than well-founded. So far, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have shared the victories – obtained effortlessly – and together they missed just the one-two finish at the Albert Park Circuit in Australia, due to the Mexican driver’s fifth-place finish. Adrian Newey has designed a fantastic car that seems to have an edge over its competitors in terms of race pace, although team principal Christian Horner is trying to keep his team focused, stating caution regarding the wind tunnel penalty that, according to him, will be felt from Imola onwards.
A struggling Ferrari
If Charles Leclerc had given some hope for the SF-23 competitiveness following his performance at the Baku City Circuit, Ferrari in Miami once again found itself immersed in its chronic problems of inconsistency and tire management difficulties. Neither Charles Leclerc nor Carlos Sainz managed to explain the car’s behavior, and the exchange between the two as soon as they got out of the car was eloquent, with expressions of surprise and disappointment on both faces as they shared their driving impressions at the end of the race which was held at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida, USA.
SF-23, updates are coming
Scuderia Ferrari has dedicated the first races to understanding the 2023 car, bringing only a few updates to Miami and scheduling most of the expected developments in view of the first part of the championship for the home race at Imola in two weeks. Realistically in Maranello, they hope for a step forward that can allow Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to regularly fight for the podium with Aston Martin and Mercedes, creating a solid foundation to build upon.
Fred Vasseur, no race to copy Red Bull
Fifteen wins in the last sixteen races explain more than anything else that Red Bull’s aerodynamic concept is the best of the lot. Mercedes, which will bring a sort of W14 ‘B version’ on the track at Imola, has stated that it has been inspired by the lines of the car designed by Adrian Newey, while Ferrari does not seem to want to align with the philosophy of the RB19 at the moment.
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Frederic Vasseur, during the Miami weekend, explained: “It is a mistake to think that a car’s speed depends solely on aerodynamics. In reality, there are many rather complex factors. If you simply copy the choices of others, it means that you will always be late. And with such a limited budget, it is almost impossible to copy anything during the season. Therefore, we must stick to our original plan and continue to develop the platform we have. Red Bull has a very effective DRS, and from this point of view, we are far behind. But this does not mean that we will copy anything. We must continue to develop in the right direction,” concluded the French manager.
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