On Saturday he had taken pole with the widest margin of the year (58 hundredths) and yesterday he won, without pushing hard, with more than 19 seconds advantage to secure the constructors' title. Max Verstappen certified in Suzuka the overwhelming superiority of Red Bull in a World Championship where he already has 15 victories in 16 races, exactly the same record with which McLaren closed the 1988 season.. This sixth crown for the Austrian team, the fastest in history, deepens a debate that seems serious concern in the paddock.. Is Red Bull's hegemony a real threat to F1 itself?
As soon as he got off the RB19, with which between May and September he linked a record of 10 consecutive victories, Verstappen admitted the evidence yesterday: “Once we got past the start it was quite easy”. It was another example of the superiority of a car whose race pace has been unapproachable for Ferrari and Mercedes, its traditional competitors, or Aston Martin and McLaren, entertainers in two specific sections of the season..
Furthermore, the astonishing reliability of the car designed by Adrian Newey was reflected in a devastating fact: yesterday's retirement of Sergio Pérez, author of a disastrous race in Suzuka, was Red Bull's first in 2023. So the only vulnerable point of the RB19, to name a few, was felt in a single lap during the qualifying sessions, when they gave up four pole positions to Ferrari and another to Mercedes.. Of course, of those five occasions, only Carlos Sainz knew how to translate it into victory in Singapore. Questioning Verstappen in the long runs was simply a chimera.
“at the top of the game”
“Max is absolutely at the top of the game,” praised Christian Horner yesterday. “Everything has to go together, car, driver, team, in total harmony. And he has an enormous inner hunger, determination and capacity. He knows how to channel everything and does not allow himself to be distracted. “He is a driver from head to toe,” explained the Red Bull main team about the next champion.. And in two weeks, Verstappen will secure his third title at the Qatar GP. He currently has 177 points over Pérez, the biggest lead in history, so he only needs to finish sixth in Saturday's sprint race to equal Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart and Jack Brabham.
Of course, on his agenda – and that of Red Bull – there is a much more ambitious plan.. Because in the remaining six events, the Austrian team aspires to break that historic 94% victory rate with which McLaren, led by Ron Dennis, Alain Prost and Senna, rounded off 1988.. Right now, it has 623 points and another record is on its horizon: the 765 added by the Silver Arrows in 2016. Without taking into account the bonuses of fast laps and sprint races, they would need help from Pérez, undoubtedly the weak link in their machinery throughout 2023.
The promising start of the Mexican – as capable of winning in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan as he was of reaching the fifth race with only six points of deficit – ended up being diluted against the #1. With 400 points, Verstappen accumulates more than the entire Mercedes team (305) or the sum of the four Aston Martin and McLaren drivers (393). Toto Wolff, head of the Silver Arrows, illustrated this in a very striking way last July in Budapest. “It's a Formula 2 grid against a Formula 1.”
Of course, beneath that praise from the Austrian there was also a more or less encrypted message hidden.. “This sport is a meritocracy, so as long as they are within the regulations, they have undoubtedly done the best job”. Doubts about the legality of the RB19, which increased in tone after the technical directive approved by the FIA just two weeks ago, have been floating in the air for a long time.. For now, beyond the rumors, nothing clouds Red Bull's success. Neither in the present, nor in the immediate future.
Stefano Domenicali, executive director of F1, has flatly denied that the Great Circus is going to interfere, through limitations in the regulations, in this hegemony.. But a simple review of the history of this sport is enough to clarify that forceful measures were taken in the past.. At the moment, the next revision in the regulations is scheduled for 2026, with important changes in both aerodynamics and engines.. By then, Red Bull will have ended this happy alliance with Honda to fly solo with its Red Bull Powertrains project.