Formula 1: Red Bull to confirm its domination, Ferrari to bounce back at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix


Will Max Verstappen and Red Bull shine again after the Bahrain Grand Prix? The reigning world champion team, which had monopolized the first row on the grid then achieved a double with the victory of Max Verstappen ahead of Sergio Pérez, seems to have a big head start on its competitors and can drive the point home on the fast street circuit of Jeddah this weekend. “Red Bull have already folded the championship, I don’t think anyone will be able to fight with them this season. I expect them to win all the races this season”, had also dropped George Russell (Mercedes), fatalistic, after the first GP of 2023.

“After a good start in Bahrain, I don’t expect it to be easy in Jeddah, which is a completely different circuit and where you will need the car to be fast,” said Verstappen, the double champion. world title. “However, with the very fast corners, I think we will have a competitive car on this circuit. The Dutchman, victim of stomach aches in recent days, “feels better” but “had to delay his flight for a day” and will only be present in the paddock on Friday, the day of the first free practice, he said. he stated Thursday on Twitter.

Ferrari expected

Ferrari will be rightly expected at the turn in Saudi Arabia after a very disappointing first GP marked by the retirement of Charles Leclerc and the fourth place of Carlos Sainz. But the weekend does not come under the best auspices since the Monegasque driver will be penalized ten places on the starting grid after the replacement of an electronic component during the Bahrain GP.

The prancing horse brand is thus already seeing the specter of reliability problems that had ruined its 2022 season reappear. “We saw in Bahrain a first glimpse of the strengths and weaknesses of our car, and areas for improvement. team to get the best out of our car (…) and I am confident that we can have a better weekend here”, assured Frédéric Vasseur, the boss of the Italian team.

The Aston Martin Attraction

One of the attractions of the weekend will be the behavior of the Aston Martins, which have impressed since the start of the season. The podium for veteran Spanish Fernando Alonso (41) and sixth place for Canadian Lance Stroll, who suffered an injury to his right wrist, in Bahrain confirmed the good impressions received during pre-season testing. “In Jeddah, the challenge will be completely different from Bahrain where we had two weeks to familiarize ourselves with the circuit. But I think we will have to wait for Australia to better know what the overall level of performance of the car will be”, pointed out the “Bull of Asturias”.

As in 2022, Mercedes seems far from being able to compete with Red Bull after eight years of unchallenged domination. If both drivers scored points in Bahrain, with Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth and Russell seventh, they will be hard pressed to fight for victory, even if their boss Toto Wolff proves to be combative.

“A plan to get back to the top”

“Our performance in Bahrain was not what we expected. Since then, we have had discussions to put in place a plan to get back to the top. In the short term, without neglecting any detail in the search for performance. And in the long term by focusing on the development of the car”, explained the team-manager of the “Flèches d’Argent”.

On the French side, Alpine, which had a contrasting first GP with the fine comeback of Pierre Gasly, ninth after starting last, and the abandonment of Esteban Ocon after several errors, will also try to bounce back. “We know that the A523 has potential. We haven’t been able to exploit everything to the fullest yet and we have work to do to achieve it.

It’s a long season, we started with points and we must continue to push as a team”, insisted Otmar Szafnauer, the boss of the French team. Compared to last season, marked by a big accident for Mick Schumacher in qualifying, changes were made to the Jeddah Corniche circuit to improve visibility and driver safety.





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