Max Verstappen cruised with ease to grab his second World Championship title. The Dutchman claimed 15 victories from the 22 races, breaking the longstanding record set by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. But it won’t be easy to replicate the same next season.
Red Bull has been punished for breaching the $145 Million Budget cap. And as a consequence, the team will have to pay a $7 million fine and would see a 10% reduction in their Wind tunnel testing and CFD time.
This comes at a time when both rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari look to reclaim their lost dominance in the sport. And with a loss in testing, engineers at Red Bull might not have solutions to early problems, as Mercedes did in 2022.
RB is the WCC winner, so it had aero development time equal to 70% of the baseline (75% for Ferrari, 80% for Mercedes)
After the 10% reduction, RB will only have 63% of the baseline development time: this should significantly hamper their development capabilities#F1 #CostCap
— F1 Data Analysis 📈 (@F1DataAnalysis) October 28, 2022
Red Bull’s Technical head Adrian Newey seems this will pose a major challenge for Red Bull. And might come in the way of Verstappen’s ambition to claim a third crown.
Adrian Newey is uncertain about the loss of speed
Max Verstappen might have a rocky start in 2023 considering Red Bull’s reduced wind tunnel time. But Red Bull’s Chief Technology Officer, Adrian Newey it is difficult to predict the difference it makes.
Newey said, “It’s very difficult to put an answer that will cost us so many tenths of a second per lap.” But the real challenge would be to correct the issues and bring timely upgrades to races.
He continues, “And the reduction of internal testing means we can therefore evaluate less different components, less different ideas.” This will also limit the team’s capacity to try new aero parts.
It’s important to note that the wind tunnel and CFD allocation for each team was reset on July 1st. For the remainder of the season, @MercedesAMGF1 will have 10% more time than Red Bull and 5% more than Ferrari. ⤵️
(via @SkySportsF1)#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1pic.twitter.com/lFoo3wdfvr
— Bryson Sullivan 🇺🇲 (@NaturalParadigm) July 4, 2022
F1 has also introduced a regulation change of raising the floor edge of a car by an additional 15 millimetres. This was done to reduce the porpoising the new cars endured during the early part of the 2022 season.
Although it might seem like a minor Newey claimed it as “quite a significant aerodynamic change.” And Red Bull might have to work to reduce the deficit from that along with their normal development throughout a season.
Max Verstappen could face a strong challenge from Ferrari and Mercedes
2022 might have been smooth sailing for Max Verstappen. But 2023 might not be the same case claims Adrian Newey who suspects Ferrari and Mercedes to bring their A-game when racing resumes in Bahrain.
Ferrari had a strong start to the season and gave Red Bull a close fight in the first half of the season. While Mercedes finished on a high note and improved their performance in the later stages of the season.
Newey states, “Ferrari won’t be resting. They will be kind of sorting out the weak areas where they had a couple of reliability problems, and made a couple of pit wall mistakes. So, they’ll be right back.”
After 15 victories, seven poles, and 454 points, @Max33Verstappen finally gets his hands on the drivers’ championship trophy for 2022 🤩🏆#F1 #FIAPrizeGiving pic.twitter.com/0sHoZNofTh
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 9, 2022
“And then, of course, Mercedes.” He adds, “They were quite a long way off the pace and evolving. We know they will be right there. So, it’s going to be a tough year for sure.”
But Verstappen is known to fight until the last resort and is by far the best driver on the grid. And with the genius of Newey, regarded as the best car designer in the history of the sport, one cannot write Red Bull off the 2023 title race yet.
Also Read: Charles Leclerc ‘not satisfied’ after splitting the Red Bulls in 2022 championship
