Former Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg feels his ex-team and Ferrari won’t be able to leap past Red Bull in 2023.
The 2022 F1 season turned out to be a walk in the park for Red Bull despite their poor start. They suffered two retirements in the opening three races and that was the time when Ferrari and Charles Leclerc were flying. Since then, Red Bull and Max Verstappen have completely turned to tides around.
With three races still remaining, both Championships have been secured by the Milton-Keynes-based team. Verstappen secured his second Drivers’ Title after finishing P1 at the Japanese GP three weeks ago. Red Bull meanwhile, sealed their first Constructors” Championship win since 2013 at the United States GP last weekend.
Everything that Red Bull is touching turns into gold and it all points toward the start of another dominant period in F1. Regardless, both Ferrari and Mercedes are adamant that they will bounce back and prevent that from happening. 2016 F1 Champion Rosberg, however, does not see that happening.
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Red Bull will emulate Mercedes’ era of dominance, says Nico Rosberg
Between 2014 and 2021, Mercedes eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships and seven Drivers’ Titles. It was arguably the most dominant era for a team in F1 history and Rosberg was part of that. This is why he sees all the signs, which point towards something similar happening.
The German feels that Ferrari and Mercedes will find it very difficult to beat a team, who have sealed their win with so many races to spare. He labels Red Bull as a team who have the best car, strategy, management and also the best driver in Verstappen.
“Red Bull are the dominant force at the moment in the way that Mercedes were in all these past years,” he said to Sky Sports.
“Securing that Constructors’ Championship as well so early, also having such a dominant team in every area at the moment, just as Mercedes had.”
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Charles Leclerc ready to do anything to stop Verstappen’s ascension
In the first few races of 2022, Leclerc was favored to win the Title over Verstappen. The Monegasque was driving the F1-75, which seemed more reliable faster than the RB-18. However, as the season progressed, both Leclerc and Ferrari started making huge mistakes. These errors gave up a lot of points to Red Bull and Verstappen.
Now that people are questioning whether we will see Verstappen dominate the sport, Leclerc insists that he’ll do anything it takes to stop that from happening. The Ferrari driver feels that his team will bounce back from what has been an unfortunate 2022 season, and come back stronger.
