Recall the first quarter of the 2022 F1 season. Charles Leclerc and Ferrari flying at the top of the F1 championship, the Tifosi bundled with joy, hoping for the Scuderia to get back to their glory days. Alas, after the first 6 rounds, a phenomenon named Max Verstappen came riding on his Red Bull and trashed all the hopes the Monegasque had of winning a championship with Ferrari. 2023 just added even more salt to the wound and now, all Leclerc can count on for a Ferrari Championship is Red Bull’s downfall. But why?

Red Bull finished the 2023 season as the best team on the grid. Max Verstappen won the race by 17 seconds. However, Red Bull, unlike its competitors, didn’t bring any upgrades in the second half of the season and shifted focus toward the 2024 challenger. While the other teams did catch up toward the end, having started earlier, the potential to improve for Red Bull is much greater compared to the likes of Ferrari. 

Amid all this, Charles Leclerc recently made comments about Ferrari’s challenger for the 2024 season and what the Scuderia expects from Red Bull. Leclerc explained how Ferrari identified the weak links of the SF23 over the season and improved on them. And how they will continue to improve further. However, no matter how much Ferrari improves the pace, it’s only relevant if Red Bull doesn’t find as much time as the Scuderia did. 

According to Auto Motor Und Sport, Charles Leclerc said, “There is a much greater desire to change something during the season. As we understood our weak points step by step, the factory fully responded. committed to making some improvements sooner. I am 100% convinced that we will take a step forward next year. Unfortunately, everything in this sport is relative. If Red Bull finds one more second, everyone will have the “looks old. You can never be sure.”

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It actually is concerning that Red Bull has been working on the 2024 car since the Dutch GP. Lewis Hamilton raised his concern around the same during the season. Let’s see what that was all about. 

Lewis Hamilton asked FIA to make rule changes to curb Red Bull’s advantage 

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes dominated the sport for 8 long continuous years. While Hamilton must’ve enjoyed the dominance back then, it was nowhere near what Max Verstappen has shown this year in terms of being unstoppable. With Red Bull starting development of their 2024 car much earlier compared to others, Hamilton asked FIA to make rules changes to stop teams from getting an advantage by starting early.

Lewis Hamilton said, “I think the FIA should probably put a time when everyone is allowed to start developing for next year’s car. ‘August 1st, that’s when everyone can start’. Then no one can get an advantage for next year, because that sucks. We never started as early as them [Red Bull]. But it needs to change because that’s why you have dominance for so long.”

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