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Red Bull Racing are by far the most dominant team in Formula 1 today. Their top driver, reigning world champion Max Verstappen, is easily winning or at least finishing on the podium in every single race. However, the team has one weakness in its otherwise bulletproof structure.
One of the best car designers in the world, Adrian Newey, developed the RB19, which features tight packaging of the car and allows the team to run it with the maximum amount of vertical load from the floor. This eventually enables the car to take fast corners with great ease. Unfortunately, the special tight design of the car comes with some reliability issues.
During the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP, both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez complained about gearbox problems. Verstappen mentioned how the downshifts weren't smooth and quick enough. It seems like the small size of the internal elements of the gearbox is putting a lot more stress on various other parts. As a result, both the team's drivers were asked to slow down during the Saudi Arabian GP in order to reduce mechanical wear and tear, and somehow finish the race.
This is a major concern for Red Bull, as other rival teams will try to take advantage of every single weakness that's shown by the Austrian-British outfit. As the season progresses, teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin will be catching up to Red Bull while they fix their reliability issues regarding gearboxes, O-rings, and other internal components.
Max Verstappen dismisses George Russell's claims of Red Bull sandbagging
After the 2023 F1 Australian GP, George Russell claimed that Red Bull is still not unleashing the full potential of its RB19 to avoid any interference from the FIA. However, Max Verstappen dismissed the claim and explained how he was simply holding back to save the hard tires and end the race without any problems. Speaking on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast, he said:
“I mean, I think anyway, there’s nothing really they can do. I mean, we just try to do the best we can with the development of the car, but it’s also about pace management, because we didn’t really know – I think no-one really knew – how long that hard tyre would last.”
He added:
"So it’s about just bringing it home because we had a bit of pace I think over the others, and there’s no need to try and gain half a second a lap and destroy your tyres to the end because you never know, a Safety Car can happen, red flags, like we had today. So yeah, it’s not necessary to risk all that.”
As such, there is talk about Red Bull's dominance and how the FIA would react to it and try to impose new rules to further equalize performance throughout the grid. Despite giving the team a hefty penalty for breaching the cost cap in 2021, the Austrian-British team is still able to pull such a massive lead in 2023. Only time will tell whether the FIA will step in or not.
