Red Bull Will Be Tough to Catch in F1

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By Grant Leonard, Rotowire

The 2023 Formula 1 season zoomed into action with the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix kicking off the race slate for the year. Ultimately, Bahrain’s finish may be a tell-tale sign of things to come: Red Bull in front with an array of teams nipping at their heels.

With round 2 revving up at the STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, it’s a good time to take a look at what might be in store for the rest of the season.

RAGING RED BULLS

No fan or participant in the sport will ever forget the exceptionally exciting, yet extraordinarily controversial, ending to the 2021 season that saw Max Verstappen edge Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for the title crown on the final lap of the final race.

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Regardless of how you view that conclusion, Verstappen carried momentum right into the 2022 calendar where he clinched the championship with a handful of races still remaining and absolutely dominated the field for a record 15 race wins.

Sergio Perez finished in third place in the driver standings but only trailed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 3 points. Red Bull won the Constructors’ Championship by a healthy margin over second-place Ferrari and seems poised to keep pace at the front of the pack this season, too.

Both Red Bulls showed superior pace in Bahrain, with no other driver even coming close to challenging Perez for second place. This is Red Bull’s world, we’re all just living in it. You’re welcome, Christian Horner.

GRIDLOCK FOR THE 2ND ROW

After Red Bull, it’ll likely come down to three teams fighting for the second row of the grid and consistent podium finishes: Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin.

Despite its famed history, a Ferrari hasn’t stood atop the final driver standings since Kimi Räikkönen reached the summit in 2007. The following season was the last time Ferrari won a Constructors’ Championship.

The team has enlisted Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as their drivers of the present and future to change that, and there were times in 2022 when it seemed that was going to finally happen. But then the renowned red car floundered down the stretch, which ultimately led to the departure of team principal Mattia Binotto.

New boss Frederic Vasseur is now tasked with turning the tide after leading Alfa Romeo to sixth in the constructors’ standings in 2022.

Mercedes’ 2022 season and start to the current campaign have been humbling. After dominating the sport from 2013 to 2020 – it won every single Driver and Constructors’ Championship in that stretch – the team has since yielded the mantle to Verstappen and Red Bull.

It dropped to third in the constructors’ standings last season, and neither 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (P6) nor young starlight George Russell (P4) finished top three in the driver standings. Hamilton has openly admitted that they have a lot of work to do this year, even conceding that he believes they’re the fourth-fastest team right now.

Yet, you can never count Mercedes out for good. They have a ruthless pedigree under of team principal and CEO Toto Wolff, Hamilton is arguably the best driver of all time, and Russell is expected by many to be a future world champion.

Speaking of a ruthless pedigree as a perennial champion, that is exactly what Fernando Alonso has brought to Aston Martin in his first season with the team. The 2-time world-title winner came out guns blazing in Bahrain, finishing third to the Red Bull drivers by completing bold overtakes of both Hamilton and Sainz.

Despite most of Aston Marton’s car being redesigned over the winter following a very uninspiring 2022 season, Alonso is pushing for continuous improvements as the campaign develops - with driver and team aiming to become a title-contending force as soon as possible.

Team owner Lawrence Stroll is all about winning and has vowed that winning is the only reason he -- a billionaire from Canada -- bought the team in the first place. Stroll’s son Lance is the other driver on the team and has not made much of a name for himself. The younger Stroll will be pushed harder than ever given that Alonso presents the best counterpart in the cockpit of any of Stroll’s previous teammates.

If this team is to stay relevant at the front of the pack, it will likely come down to Alonso’s prowess as one of the sport’s greats, and whether or not the team can manage to keep pace in the development of its car.

THE BEST OF THE REST

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon has pushed the pace in the last few seasons, even capturing a P1 in Hungary in 2021. He only finished outside the Top-10 six times in 2022 and managed two top-five finishes.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas finished tenth in the driver standings at the end of 2022. Last year was his first season with Alfa Romeo after years of playing second fiddle to Hamilton at Mercedes. Bottas won races with the Silver Arrows and has the talent to get the most out of any car he’s driving.

McLaren’s Lando Norris is one of the sport’s highly touted young drivers, but for now his car doesn’t have the pace to match the other teams in the midfield.

Pierre Gasly will run alongside Ocon in the other Alpine. He’s a supremely talented driver that struggled to stay consistent while driving for Red Bull and AlphaTauri, so a fresh start in a new car that’s proven capable of competing could be the spark he needs to ignite his career.

Haas even has two veteran drivers in Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg this year, who should be able to jump into the points from time to time.

QUESTION MARKS AT THE BACK

Alex Albon had an unceremonious exit from Red Bull a few years back, but he has shown the ability to help move Williams out of the back of the grid after joining the team in 2022.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda has the talent to compete for points, but he will have to find maturity and consistency to do so regularly.

Zhou Guanyu enters his second season on the grid looking to keep pace with Alfa Romeo teammate Bottas.

There are also several newcomers in Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Logan Sargeant (Williams), and Nyck De Vries (AlphaTauri) who will look to secure their future at the highest level of racing.

Photo Credit: IMAGO / Nur Photo