The 2023 Formula 1 season is just two races old, but it seems that the season is as good as over already.
Such a prognosis may sound gloomy, but for opponents left in the slipstream of Red Bull it may simply be a realistic assessment. The performance of the team’s cars in the Bahrain and Saudi Grand Prix races was so far ahead of the rest that it appears everyone else is fighting for second in the Constructor’s Championship and third in the driver standings.
Max Verstappen’s win in Bahrain ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez was reversed in Jeddah, signalling that the one real contest this year will be in-house. Lewis Hamilton, still struggling in his Mercedes, said he had “never seen a car so fast” as the 2023 Red Bull, even when Mercedes was dominant.
This sparked a debate at Mercedes as team principal Toto Wolff insisted they were just as quick in their dominant period, but there is no doubt that the precision engineering of Red Bull has put them in a position where the team name on both championship titles – if not the driver – is assured.
It is all in contrast with Ferrari, for whom Charles Le Clerc, whose sparkling start last year at least added some plot tension to the season before Verstappen and Red Bull took control, has endured a tough start to the season. After failing to finish in Bahrain he only came seventh in Jeddah.
Despite leaving the rest so far behind, it seems even Red Bull’s engineers are under pressure to make the car better. Having finished second to Perez, Verstappen still raised reliability issues that he said hampered his race and cost him the chance of victory.
Such is the pursuit of excellence for the team and drivers who look certain to make 2023 all their own.