Red Bull Undefeated Entering Summer Break
Red Bull has just topped the most consecutive wins in F1 history at 12. With 1 race left before the summer break, can they go 12-for-12 to begin the 2023 season off with?
While they topped McLaren in 1988 for most consecutive wins last Sunday, they’re looking to once again top McLaren’s 1988 season for another record – most wins in-a-row to start a season.
McLaren won 11 straight races to begin that year. Red Bull’s 11-for-11 this year but their 12th win spans to the 2022 season finale.
They’ve won 21 of the last 22 races in general and 27 of the last 30 overall. They’ve won the last 2 times in Spa at that, including a 1-2 finish last year, so there’s a very real chance that no one catches them this weekend.
However, with summer break ahead and Red Bull out to such a massive lead in both the drivers and constructors standings, they’ve mentioned that their eyes are going to start peeling ahead to 2024.
Why not, right?
Max Verstappen is 142 points ahead of Fernando Alonso in points. Alonso is the top non Red Bull driver. Verstappen also leads teammate Sergio Perez by 110 points for the lead while Perez is 32 points clear of Alonso himself.
Verstappen also became just the fifth driver in history to win seven straight races joining – Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg).
In regards to the constructors, Red Bull is 229 points ahead of Mercedes. The gap is wider between the two teams (229) than the total points Mercedes has scored (223) all season.
So, with a wind tunnel deficit now compared to the other teams as well as paying the penalty for overspending, Red Bull has the luxury of looking far ahead to the future.
Can Sergio Perez Keep Momentum
Sergio Perez needed a big weekend in Hungary. After 5 straight times of not being in Q3, he finally made it last Saturday. Granted, he’d only start 9th, however, he’d still rebound to finish on the podium in third for his 2nd podium in the last 3 races. It was much needed with so much attention going to his future with the team past his current contract.
On a weekend that Daniel Ricciardo out qualified his teammate and still finished ahead of him despite an opening lap incident, Perez delivered.
Over these last three races too, he’s opened up his lead over the field. At one point, it was looking like he may lose out on being P2 in the drivers standings.
However, he’s finished 3rd, 6th, 3rd in the last three grand prix’ compared to Fernando Alonso being 5th, 7th, 9th. Lewis Hamilton was 8th, 3rd, 4th in the same three races to allow Perez to stay well ahead of them in leading Alonso by 32 points for second and Hamilton by 38.
It was 19 and 35 respectively entering the weekend.
He finished 2nd here a year ago.
McLaren
McLaren warned that despite their strong pace in Austria that they’d not be as strong over the next 2 races in England and Hungary. While they had some upgrades coming, those circuits didn’t lend a helping hand to their car defencies.
The McLaren cars like faster corners and cooler temps. England was overcast on Saturday which allowed for them to start 2-3. They’d finish 2-4.
Hungary is slower turns and hotter conditions. Maybe they’d get caught up back up. Instead, they’d start 3-4 and finish 2-5.
Despite Lando Norris now having finishes of 4th, 2nd, 2nd in the last 3 races and Oscar Piastri being 16th (didn’t have upgrade yet), 4th, 5th, they’re tempering their expectations for the rest of the way.
Spa could be better in being a faster circuit, but McLaren warns also that there’s only a few corners there that are high speed. There’s some very slow corners too for which the McLaren’s feel like they aren’t quite all the way there yet.
Still, for Norris to hold off a Red Bull (Sergio Perez) and a Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton) to a runner-up finish in Hungary, that’s a huge win for them still.
It was the first time in months that the same driver finished runner-up in two straight races. Previously, we witnessed 6 straight races with a new driver finishing 2nd.
In Miami, it was Red Bull going 1-2 with Verstappen-Perez. For Monaco it was Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso. Spain was Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton’s turn. Canado was back to Aston Martin and Alonso. Austria was Ferrari and Charles LeClerc. England was Lando Norris and McLaren.
“It’s very confusing to me because every single race weekend, it’s someone else,” Verstappen said. “I think is because it’s so close behind that if you get your car in a little bit of a better window, it works on one particular track.
“So for me, I don’t know what’s going to happen in Hungary to be honest, who is going to be quick or the second quickest. The stable factor so far is that every single weekend, it seems like we are on top, which of course is the most important from our side. But again, Hungary completely different track, we will put some upgrades on the car there and hopefully they will work well.”
Can McLaren get a 3rd straight runner-up finish on Sunday?
They’ve seem to have passed up Mercedes and Ferrari right now. Bigger picture is Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari have won 189 of the last 193 (97.9%) of the races. That’s all in the hybrid era.
However, Ferrari has 4 wins in the last 100. Mercedes had 111 wins in 160 tries (69%) between 2014 and 2021. Over the last 33, they’re just 1-for-33.
McLaren seems to have found the pace to get among them to break up the “Big 3” party.
Aston Martin
Some are wondering where they went. However, they expected this. Fernando Alonso started the season off strong with results of 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 2nd. He’s had 1 top 4 finish in the last 5.
Why?
It was partially because teams have brought better upgrades. McLaren has gotten WAY faster. Mercedes has also improved their pace too. That’s 4 cars, plus 2 at Red Bull and 2 more in Ferrari makes a much more crowded field in the top 8 spots.
The main reason too is how the schedule laid out. Aston Martin struggles for pace on natural road courses like this one ahead. On street circuits though, Alonso was 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 2nd. That made up 5 of the 1st 6 races.
The last five races, there’s been just one race that ran like a street race (Montreal) for which Alonso was P2. On more natural free flowing tracks, he’s finished 6th, 5th, 7th and 9th. Lance Stroll was 7th, 9th, 9th, 14th and 10th in the same races.
That’s why I’m curious what they do this weekend in Spa.
Alonso started 8th last week to remain as the only driver to reach Q3 at every race this season.
Alpine
They finished P5 and P7 here a year ago. They’ve fallen hard in their return trip back. Alpine had a double DNF in Hungary and further slipped their results backwards. After being P4 in the constructors a year ago, they’re down to 6th now and sliding further and further back. They’ve had 3 retirements in the last 2 races.
Now, how much further do they fall?
They’re still 36 points clear of both Williams and Haas. Alfa Romeo is 38 points back. I’m not saying that they’re going to go to rock bottom here and fall to 9th out of 10 teams in the constructors, but something is going to have to give.
They have a 100-race plan, but with McLaren’s newfound pace, how much does that hurt things? They lost Fernando Alonso (3rd in points). They felt like they had Oscar Piastri ready (2 straight top 5’s). They also lost him.
Does McLaren’s pace and how well Alonso and Piastri are doing force changes early at Alpine? They need a strong result heading to summer break.
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