Red Bull has had a relatively easy time during the first five races of the season, with Verstappen and Sergio Perez clinching one-two finish in all but one Grand Prix.
Martin Brundle was amazed by Red Bull’s impressive performance at the Miami Grand Prix. He observed that Max Verstappen showed remarkable confidence, even being cautious at the start of the race, knowing that he would eventually overtake his competitors.
Red Bull’s impressive dominance has left little room for action at the front of the grid, despite a minor inter-team battle between their two drivers.
Competitors such as Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin have been unable to pose a significant threat to Red Bull’s domination.
In fact, during the Miami Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton finished nearly a minute behind Max Verstappen despite the Dutch driver starting the race from 9th place, highlighting the extent of Red Bull’s superiority.
Although Perez had secured the pole position and was expected to win, Verstappen proved to be a formidable opponent. However, this level of dominance has attracted criticism from onlookers, who have found the start of this F1 season to be rather uneventful.
One of the factors contributing to Red Bull’s success is its exceptional DRS system, which has enabled them to achieve even greater speeds than their competitors.
Renowned Sky Sports pundit, Martin Brundle, has issued a warning to Mercedes and other competitors, stating that Red Bull’s drivers possess the confidence to start from any position on the grid and still manage to surpass their rivals.
This level of self-assurance is a testament to Red Bull’s impressive form and has further cemented their position as the team to beat in the F1 circuit.
The 63-year-old in his Sky Sports column wrote: “With the DRS rear wing open the Red Bull is fundamentally much faster in top speed than the other nine teams, so much so that I suspect that wherever they start on the grid, and given no outside factors, they can finish one-two.”
“Their speed is simply irresistible and that’s where the other teams must focus. It won’t be easy, that’s an overall car design philosophy rather than an update, and even then, only after they’ve understood what Red Bull are doing to dump so much drag.
“A cautious Verstappen even lost a place on the opening lap, dropping to 10th, fully aware that he’d cruise past the pack in relatively short order as soon as DRS was enabled, and using his prodigious, metronomic speed and tyre management thereafter,” Brundle added.
“Of course, I’d rather there were at least two teams fighting for the victories, that would be much better, but believe me when I say that Murray Walker and I would have killed for that much race action 25 years ago in the commentary box on many occasions. That doesn’t mean to say we shouldn’t focus on improving the racing and I am concerned that the 2023 cars, loaded with ever more downforce, are not helping in that respect.
“The Red Bull DRS success creates another fundamental issue in that they simply breeze past the opposition as I’ve described above, but shortening the length of the DRS zones (based on 2022 data) is not helping the rest of the field make passes. Quite a dilemma but nothing the FIA can really do there, the other teams simply must catch up.”
So all the extra power Mercedes had since the dawn of the Hybid era no-one jumped up and down to equalise that! Newey has hit the sweet spot with the Aero and suddenly it is all unfair.
Thought the data showed Red Bull were not the fastest on the straights. Austin Martin, Alfa Romeo & Alpha Tauri had the highest speed trap times. But, F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of race car design and engineering. If changes are made to equalize everyone, then we have the Worlds most expensive spec series.