Lewis Hamilton’s frustrations continue to grow as Red Bull continue their dominance into the 2023 season. With the Milton Keynes outfit having won all of the eight races so far, the Briton has given some suggestions to the FIA to reduce their dominance. However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes that Hamilton’s suggestions are “impractical“.
Hamilton made his recent suggestions to the FIA after he slammed Red Bull’s cost cap penalty. Hamilton doesn’t believe that Red Bull’s penalty has affected them at all as he referred to it as “very small“. And as it so happens, Red Bull have not only seemed to put the worry of the cost cap penalty behind them, but have also began working on next year’s car much ahead of their rivals.
Hamilton sees this as a massive disadvantage to his Mercedes team as he believes that no team shall be able to work on next year’s car so early on in the season. Hence, he suggested that the FIA must put a timeline of when teams can begin working on next year’s car.
Christian Horner believes it will be “incredibly hard” to police teams
After hearing Lewis Hamilton’s suggestions, Christian Horner explained why he believes the FIA will find it “incredibly hard” to police teams about when they decide to begin working on next year’s car. “How on Earth could you say, ‘right, go!’? How do you prevent people thinking about or working on next year’s cars,” he questioned (as quoted by racefans.net).
After dismissing Hamilton‘s suggestions, Horner went onto add that Red Bull are just reaping the rewards for having made a “good solid base“. And in the process of appreciating his team’s results, he also went on to slam his competitors for being unable to “make the step” forward.
After slamming his rivals, Horner concluded his remarks by explaining why the situation is not all positive for his side. Horner explained, “I think we have a handicap system in Formula 1 through the reduction of wind tunnel time. Franz [Tost, AlphaTauri team principal] has almost double the amount of time that we have. That is a significant handicap“.
However, if there is any team that can overcome a massive disadvantage, then that is undoubtedly Red Bull. This is because the Milton Keynes outfit did a terrific job by overcoming the significant disadvantage that they had as a result of the cost cap penalty. Red Bull were not only issued a whopping $7,000,000 for their cost cap penalty, but were also forced to reduce their wind tunnel time by 10%.
Red Bull confirm they have begun working on 2024 car
With Red Bull team principal Christian Horner having confirmed that they have begun working on next year’s car, it seems that the cost cap penalty was a blessing in disguise for them. This is because the cost cap penalty anyways restricts them from making improvements to this year’s car. Since this is the case, Horner explained it made more sense for them to begin working on next year’s car.
As quoted by mirror.co.uk, the 49-year-old said that since the regulations are stable next year, they can carry over their learnings from this season into the next. He then ended his remarks by stating that while they will continue working on this year’s car, “a lot of the focus now back in the factory is already on next year“.
And this has all been possible because of the domination that Red Bull have shown this year. After the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race, leaders Red Bull have scored exactly double the points of second-placed Mercedes. Considering how dominant the Milton Keynes outfit has been so far, they could easily end the year being unbeaten.
