World champion Max Verstappen firmly believes that both Mercedes and Ferrari will be strong opponents in the battle for the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship, although Scuderia in particular had to regroup after the change at the top.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has already stressed the importance of maintaining stability in the top tier, but with the move of Frédéric Vasseur from Alfa Romeo to Ferrari, the Italian team has now installed its fifth team principal in ten years. Horner himself has been with the Milton Keynes team since 2005.
“It’s hard to say,” says Verstappen when asked what he expects from Ferrari in 2023. “I have no idea how they improve the car. I think time will tell. They are a great team and they also have a lot of great people working there.”
“Of course there has been a change at the top, but I think they already had a direction they wanted to work in anyway and they wanted to improve the car and the engine department, so I expect them to continue down that path and with security will be a strong competitor.”
The other Red Bull competitor Mercedes was also restructured before the season after chief strategist James Vowles left the team for Williams to become team boss there.
Verstappen: Mercedes at a disadvantage after Vowles departure?
Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko has already indicated that the mood at the Silver Arrows is “tense”, but Verstappen is not impressed by that either.
“So we don’t make too much of it,” he says. “I think as a team we’re just trying to improve our performance. And of course we want to keep winning. That’s why we’re in Formula 1.”
“And what about the people who leave other teams? I don’t know, it’s difficult to say from the outside whether that’s good or bad, whether it will interrupt their work. Of course, when new people come, it always takes a while bit until they get used to it.”
“I mean, it’s the same as with a driver. When you come to a new team, you have to settle in a bit. But I think you can do a lot as a new member right away,” explains Verstappen.
Verstappen: Mercedes will be “main competitor”.
According to the Dutchman, Mercedes will still be “the main rival” for Red Bull, although “Ferrari will also be very strong”. Verstappen adds: “Mercedes have of course shown in recent years that they have always been very, very strong and they also have a good group of people.”
At the same time, the Dutchman doesn’t want to get too involved with the competition either, as Red Bull themselves are responsible for making 2023 a successful season: “I think the most important thing is that we focus on ourselves and just on our car work,” he says.
“We know there are a few areas where we want to be better. And yes, we’ve tried to implement that. And hopefully we can feel that once the car is on the road for the first time.”
The feelings from the first runs with the RB19, which he did in the simulator, are good, but the double world champion doesn’t want to get too euphoric yet: “At the moment I’m just drifting in the simulator. And of course the feelings are good, but hopefully they can we’ll try it out on the track soon.”
“You only have three days to test, everything has to go very well, we have to drive a lot of kilometers and understand all sorts of little things that can happen.”