Welcome Drivers!

This is the FINAL post on the Constructor Deep Dive series! If you haven’t already, check out the deep dives that we have already done below.

• Williams Racing

• AlphaTauri

• Haas

• Aston Martin

• Alfa Romeo

• McLaren

• Alpine

• Mercedes

• Ferrari

The last team on our list is Red Bull, who finished 1st in the Constructors and Drivers championships in 2022 with one of the best seasons in F1 history.

2022 Performance

You can’t have much better of a season than Red Bull had in 2022. After shaking off a rocky start in the first few races they were flat out dominant for the rest of the year. Their development, strategy and execution were all functioning at an extremely high level and they were able to capture both the constructors and drivers championship.

Red Bull scored 759 points in 2022, the second highest points total ever (1st is 2016 Mercedes). Max Verstappen led the charge with 454 points, an F1 record, on his way to his second consecutive driver’s championship. He won 15 out of 22 races (68.2%) and was able to wrap up the championship with 4 races to spare.

Sergio Perez finished the season P3 with 305 points and was just 3 points behind Charles Leclerc in P2. This was far and away his best season and F1 and it is good to see him in a competitive car. He was able to win in Monaco and Singapore bringing Red Bull’s win total to 17 out of 22 races.

It does not get more dominant than that. Red Bull will be looking to carry this form into the 2023 season. It won’t be easy trying to repeat as champions but they have all the right pieces to be in the fight.

Looking Ahead to 2023

Leadership, Management & Partnerships

Red Bull is led by Christian Horner who now has 5 constructors championships under his belt with the Milton Keynes team. He is joined by Adrian Newey, Red Bull’s Chief Technology Officer and the mastermind of the RB18. Newey has been a part of many championship cars in all places he has worked (Williams, McLaren and now Red Bull). He will be looking to continue to improve the RB19 to even greater heights.

Horner will be focused on that as well but he will also have to keep a close eye on the team’s spending this season. Red Bull’s lone blemish last year was the fact that they went over the budget cap in the 2021 season. This caused outrage amongst the paddock with McLaren CERO Zak Brown coming out saying that it constitutes as cheating.

Red Bull spend 1.6% over the $145m cost cap in the 2021 season. The FIA later announced that Red Bull would be fined $7m and have a 10% reduction in aerodynamic testing for the 2023 season. These are both severe penalties issued by the FIA and a clear message to any team thinking about breaching the cost cap again.

Horner and team will have a lot to navigate with the penalty fine and the wind tunnel time reduction. They will need to be able to keep pace with Ferrari and Mercedes who both have more wind tunnel time without the reduction. A tall task for any team but we think the defending champs will be able to manage.

Development

Per usual, Red Bull have played their cards very tight to their chest this offseason. Even after the car launch and shakedown there is little known about the RB19. There is only one blurry image of the actual car when they were running at Silverstone. Red Bull does this on purpose to prevent tipping their hand on their development early.

Horner has hinted that there will be “subtle changes” to the RB19 and that the RB19 draws on all of the strengths of last year’s car. He goes on to say that he believes the team can be even better than last year and that he feels they are in a good spot to start the season. It will all get sorted out in Bahrain for pre-season testing where we will see all cars together for the first time.

Contrary to Horner’s comments, there have been rumors circulating that the RB19 will be significantly different than its predecessor. Some are saying that over 90% of the surface will be different than last year’s car. Along with these bodywork changes it is also rumored that the floor of the car and its Venturi channels will be revised as well. All would be aiming to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the RB19 and require less developments later on.

We think this is a little extreme given the success they had last year. It will probably land somewhere in the middle of Horner’s subtle comments and vast overhaul rumors. If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it and the RB18 certainly wasn’t broke. Red Bull will be pushing as hard as they can to maintain the performance gap to their competitors.

We will be looking forward to getting the first real glimpse of the RB19 in Bahrain on the 23rd.

Drivers

In line with the other top teams, Red Bull will be bringing back both of their drivers for the 2023 season. In fact, both of their drivers have contracts that extend past this season. This was expected as Verstappen and Perez have performed well together (with exception to Sao Paulo last year).

Max Verstappen has been on a tear his past two season in F1. He has 25 race wins over that time frame and the most laps led by a mile. He has been a wunderkind since he set foot on the paddock and now Red Bull has finally given him a car that equals his talent.

Sergio Perez is putting on some of the best performances of his career. He has tallied 3 race wins the last two year and has been Verstappen’s best teammate pairing in F1. Perez will be looking to settle further into the car and match Verstappen’s unreal performance of last year. If Perez is able to raise his level, we have no doubt Red Bull will be hosting another championship at the end of they year.

The one thing Red Bull needs to be aware of is the relationship between the two drivers. Near the end of last season, Red Bull told Perez to let Verstappen by to try to pass Fernando Alonso ahead. Perez allowed this to happen under condition that Max give the place back if he was unable to pass Alonso.

As we all know now, Max did not give the place back and it was a tense moment over the radio where Perez said Verstappen “showed who really is” and Verstappen saying “you guys don’t ask that again to me.” Definitely not a bright spot in the two driver’s relationship. Only time will tell how either of them will move on from this.

In addition to the two main drivers, Red Bull have also enlisted Daniel Ricciardo as their reserve driver. He will primarily be used for media events but will be available if one of the drivers is not able to race. Many people think this puts more pressure on Perez to perform given Daniel’s history with Red Bull be he was adamant that it had no affect on him. If you want to know our thoughts on Daniel Ricciardo’s situation we wrote an article on it (link below).

2023 Predictions

Unless Red Bull takes a major step back in performance, possibly from the wind tunnel penalty and the fines, then we expect them to finish either P1 or P2. If Max has a decent car he will always be in the fight. They will have a challenge overcoming the penalties to match Ferrari and Mercedes but they had such a large performance gap that they should be able to maintain their lead.

If they get their development progress wrong we can see them dropping as low as P3. They have a target on their back and they need to be continually improving to keep their nose in front of their rivals. That being said we do expect Red Bull to take home at least one of the championships in 2023 .

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