Max Verstappen and many others don’t like sprints, but there is beauty within it.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen equalled his 2022 record of 15 wins in a season by taking victory in the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
It is almost a full year since Red Bull first fell foul of the vagaries of the sprint format in Brazil, where the dominant car of 2022 was rendered almost undrivable. The result? The cars are less planted, the drivers are less comfortable, the teams are less certain in their decision making. What’s not to like?
Verstappen still came through to win, of course – no challenge is too great in his glow as a newly crowned three-time World Champion – but it made for one of the most tense and absorbing races of the entire 2023 season. When McLaren finally got rid of Honda, juicily sending the engine manufacturer on a path to title glory with Red Bull, the team’s statements over that three-year period were soon revealed for what they were: nonsense.
They remain hopeful of returning to title contention in 2024, but what evidence is there to believe it possible? How much trust, how much faith can there be in a team who keep overpromising and underdelivering? Of all the mistakes Sergio Perez has made in 2023, the crash that led to his car been craned up high in the Monte Carlo sky – gifting Mercedes, Ferrari and the rest a complete 360-degree understanding of the RB19’s precious secrets – will be the one that irritates Red Bull most.For Daniel Ricciardo, back in the saddle in Austin after missing five races with a broken hand, the road to a Red Bull return starts here. Maybe.
Which doesn’t seem to tally with the stories from Ricciardo’s post-British GP test in the RB19 in July, when the world was led to believe – albeit by some of his friends in the media – that Daniel was back and just as quick as he ever was. He was relatively evenly matched with Jean-Eric Vergne over two seasons at Toro Rosso in his earliest days, but to the surprise of everyone went on to run Sebastian Vettel, the reigning four-time World Champion, out of town when handed a winning Red Bull in 2014.
Trouble is, tempting as it might be, it’s so hard for Red Bull to justify doing that – and to believe that he could live with Verstappen now – when he can’t even beat Tsunoda.Now demoted to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, what has been the more remarkable aspect of Aston Martin’s season – the rise or the fall?
If Lance Stroll is now familiar with falling in Q1, Alonso’s first early qualifying exit of 2023 was all the more alarming given that it came on a weekend the team introduced a sizable upgrade package. There remains a possibility that their slide into midfield obscurity will benefit Aston Martin over the medium/long term, fifth place affording them more wind tunnel and CFD time over the winter for another serious tilt at the established frontrunners in 2024.
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