Verstappen gives Red Bull their first world title. Ferrari so-so.
– How much did the introduction of the two new technical directives (018/2023 and 039/2023) matter in the Singapore debacle? “Zero, and I’ll show you this weekend”. Max Verstappen said it, Max Verstappen did it, already on Saturday: perfect lap and 0.581 sec to Piastri, excellent second. Such gaps have not been seen in Suzuka for 20 years, namely Barrichello-Montoya 2003. Sunday’s considerations are relative: it was a monologue, from the time the traffic lights went out onwards. Single moment of pathos: turn 1, defense of the Dutchman from the attacks of the two McLarens, started better. 48 victories and counting… It was Max’s usual monologuereturned to being, if possible, even more evil than before;
– The Red Bull teammate, however, was disastrous. After taking over 1″ from the captain in qualifying, also in the race Perez made one mistake after another: from colliding with Hamilton at the start, to retiring on lap 15 after running into Magnussen, ending with the humiliation of a lap out – post retirement – only to serve a 5 second penalty. Judging by Perez’s performances in Singapore and Japan you would think that the new directives have really affected the engineering masterpiece that is the RB19. The reality is that, once again, the race showed a gulf in quality between him and his teammate. So fara really difficult season for Sergio Perez;
– Ferraris have returned to Earth. Singapore had every appearance of being a unique in season, you could guess. Suzuka, with its fast corners, is certainly not the ideal circuit for the SF-75. The moment of exaltation is officially on file: from here on out we will have to suffer. Perhaps only Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi could give some more satisfaction to Ferrari now fighting for a second position in the constructors’ standings which feels like “firsts than the others”. However, a solid race for both drivers, who, given the superiority of Red Bull and McLaren and the culpable delay with which Sainz was brought back in for the second stop, achieved the maximum possible;
– With the double podium of Norris and Piastri (first overall in Forumla 1), McLaren continues to develop advancements shown recently. Of course, the “Go get the Red Bull” by Norris at the end of the race seems excessively enthusiastic but the English team is a team that aspired to the penultimate place at the beginning of the year and now consistently places a car on the podium every weekend. Andrea Stella is working wonderfully well: il team principal he is taking away all the satisfaction he would have deserved even in Ferrari. Maybe this year it won’t be one competitor for second place as constructors but, from now until the end, to try to get another podium we will also have to deal with the Papayas;
– Thanks to the 26 points scored by Max Verstappen, Red Bull is the 2023 constructors’ world champion. Sixth time for the Austrian manufacturer, second for the Verstappen-Perez duo. It was an inevitable countdown right from the start, which ended 6 races ahead of the end of the season. A deserved victory and never in question for one factory who works every year to improve what for some years now seems to be an unbeatable single-seater. Riders, regulations and technical directives will also change, but the domain Red Bull seems truly unassailable.
2023-09-24 07:29:04
#Japanese #scattered #considerations #Doors
