VIDEO | Can Red Bull win every race in the 2023 F1 season?

25-03-2023 19:00
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Maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves but could Red Bull actually win every race in the 2023 Formula 1 season?

Last week we asked the question whether the current Red Bull were the greatest Formula 1 team in recent history. Although we fairly comfortably dismissed that we did stress that it could all change over the course of this season. The idea that Red Bull could win every race this season has been floated around given their ridiculously dominant start to the Formula 1 season. Not only does Max Verstappen look dominant, but Sergio Perez is so far clear of the rest of the field as well which has made this subject all the more relevant. Today we’re going to take dive into some of the reasons why they could complete the perfect season and what’s stopping them from doing the impossible?

Red Bull are miles in front

Let’s start with the obvious Red Bull are miles in front of anyone. They look like the best in all departments. Aero package they’ve always been excellent with the genius of Adrian Newey, they create the best car in that department pretty much every year. Where they’ve maybe slipped up in recent times is with their engine, whether that be with Honda or Renault before that, they’ve not been able to live with the power of Mercedes or Ferrari. However, that seems very different now, with the Red Bull Powertrains.

Everything about their car seems to work perfectly. We’ve now had two races at two very different tracks and they’ve been completely dominant at both of them. It’s not even been close.

Dominance in Bahrain

Bahrain a very tough abrasive circuit, Verstappen streaked away won by a huge margin, whilst Perez was a relatively comfortable second. Not only was Red Bull’s car stronger, quicker more powerful, it was far less harsh on the tyres. When we look at the tyre degradation at the Bahrain Grand Prix of the top four finishers on the soft tyres, Red Bull were miles ahead.

Max Verstappen’s first lap on the soft compound was a 1:37.9 and his last a 1:38.4, that’s a delta of around half a second. Although Perez’s laps were slower remarkably he got quicker as his tyres got older. He was almost a tenth quicker on his last lap than his first. To put it into context, Sainz and Alonso both had a delta of over one second. So if you’re going faster, a lot faster and you’re still not as harsh on your tyres, you can drive for longer, and you can drive harder without the repercussions. It’s the perfect recipe. 

Dominance in Saudi Arabia

So that was Bahrain, but what about Saudi Arabia. I said a few weeks ago that if any teams had anything else to give, we’d see them do it in Saudi Arabia. Well what we saw was an even more dominant performance. Sergio Perez was comfortable at the top of field leading the way, whilst Max Verstappen cruised through the field picking off drivers left right and centre after his unfortunate Q2 exit.

Perez was great up front, but Verstappen was unbelievably quick, he wasn’t just driving past midfield racers, he was going past quality drivers, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Alonso, all absolutely smoked by the Red Bull. Now don’t get me wrong Max Verstappen is excellent and maybe the best driver on the grid, but that Red Bull was in a league of its own. Nobody could even compete.

If we look at the lap times between laps 25 and 36 we can get an idea of how quick the Red Bull was. All of the top six were on the hard tyres except Hamilton who was on the mediums. Verstappen had the fastest average lap time and the fastest single lap. He averaged 1:32.5 and had a fastest lap of 1:31.9. Perez was two tenths slower in both departments, but next was Alonso who was an entire second slower than Verstappen’s average lap time and his fastest lap was still a tenth slower than Perez. Verstappen finished a whole 15 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso. One started second and on lap one led the race, the other started 15th. 

Their rivals

So Red Bull are rapid we’ve worked that much out but what about their rivals. We all thought Ferrari were going to be closest to them this season but they were arguably slower than Mercedes last weekend, Aston Martin look good but they’re punching above their weight right now, and Mercedes, well we all know their struggles and they aren’t going to be rectified in a hurry. So all the information so far points to Red Bull being even more dominant than last season. 

What's stopping them?

What’s stopping them. Well history says it is impossible to win every race in a Formula 1 season, the closest anyone has come was in 1988 when McLaren won 15 out of 16 races. Prost and Senna won all but the Italian Grand Prix, which was won by Gerhard Berger. There’s 23 races in this season’s calendar, more than ever before so it is even harder than years gone by. Last year Red Bull won 17 of 22 races. They’ve already won the Bahrain Grand Prix which they failed to do so last year and another one was the Australian Grand Prix which is up next. Win at Albert Park and we’re into the European and Miami for some reason leg of the season where they won all but one race last year. Right now it’s looking very rosy if you’re a red bull fan. 

The RB19

Yes the drivers are very good, but the RB19 is arguably the best F1 car ever. Even Lewis Hamilton admitted it was faster than anything Mercedes ever produced during their reign saying “When we were fast, we weren't that fast. That is the fastest car I have seen compared to the rest." Interestingly Toto Wolff didn’t agree and felt Mercedes were just as strong in their glory years.

However, development on the car might be limited. They already have less wind tunnel time than everyone else plus 10% less for breaching budget cap rules in 2021. In fact Aston Martin have 50% more wind tunnel time which is quite a lot. So development on their car MIGHT be less, emphasis on MIGHT, but by the time the others catch up it could be too late.

So can Red Bull win every race in 2023?

So back to our question could Red Bull win every race this season? Well I seem to be saying this a lot but only time will tell. It’s a long season, the longest ever but when you approach each race weekend it’s hard not to pick red bull for a one two let alone the race win and with each race they tick off it is becoming a more and more realistic possibility even if we are only two races in.