Lewis Hamilton & George Russell Championship Hopes Against Max Verstappen Dismissed Despite Red Bull’s Stumbling Block

Red Bull had a straightforward victory in 2022. The race-winning car they built and the sheer talent of Max Verstappen, placed them in a league of their own. However, their rivals are expected to up their game this season. Peter Windsor, a former Williams and Ferrari team manager, believes that even though Max Verstappen still may be a fan favorite, Red Bull will not have a smooth sailing ride this season.

Red Bull will not have an easy time building their 2023 car, thanks to the budget cap penalty and their constructor’s championship title. Both these will cause the team to lose time in the wind tunnel. Ferrari already had a fast car in 2022 but fell short on strategy and reliability. On the other hand, Mercedes had a reliable car but lacked the speed to compete with the front runners. Hence, it is expected that the field will be more competitive next season. To add to that, he thinks Mercedes may win races this year, but he does not expect the team will win the world title with George Russell or Lewis Hamilton.

As quoted by GP Blog, Winsdor said in his Twitch stream, “The logical thing to say is that Ferrari will be a bit nearer Red Bull, probably. Red Bull are pretty near the ceiling [of the regulations] and Ferrari and Mercedes are going to get somewhere near Red Bull because Red Bull haven’t got a lot more scope with which to play. They’re just about at the limit of what you can do in these regulations. That’s the way I see it.”

Further dismissing Mercedes’ dream of resurrection, he said, “I’d put more money on that [Charles Leclerc] than I would on Lewis–or George, for that matter. But I think, right now, it would be weird not to think about Max winning again.”

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Ferrari will look for redemption after their repeated follies in 2022. They have already progressed towards 2023 with Mattia Binotto’s sacking and Fred Vasseur’s initiation as team boss. He has got a good history with Charles Leclerc, being his first boss in F1.

Can Ferrari keep the Max Verstappen threat at bay?

Ferrari has been the most successful team in the history of the sport. However, for the past couple of years, things don’t seem to go right for the Italian team. In the first half of the 2022 season, they came very close to giving the reigning champions a run for their money, but it went south very soon. However, with Fred coming on board, who already has a great understanding of Ferrari’s golden boy, Charles Leclerc, the tides may shift in their favor.

Red Bull still has the genius Adrian Newey, which may make Ferrari’s dream of becoming champion difficult. Windsor feels that it is more of how the car is built than what a new team principal can do. He said, “It doesn’t come down to resources, it doesn’t come down to money. It comes down to talent and brainpower, which is why Red Bull are as good as they are because it’s ultimately Adrian Newey’s design team that creates that car.”

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With tides of time favoring the Maranello-based outfit, can Charles Leclerc and Ferrari do it in 2023?