Who gets closest to Red Bull next season - how close?
Discussion
So the recent races have seen the uptick in form from McLaren and Mercedes, whereas Ferrari seem to pretty much be where they’ve been all season (quick over one lap but lacking race pace).
Will Mercedes get their act together and continue improving? They seem to have gotten closer through going with Lewis’ style rather than George’s at the cost of George. You’re gonna back the 7 time champ of course but it is interesting to see Russell struggle compared to early in the season (and of course beating Hamilton last year).
Have McLaren had their big boom in forward progress or will they continue? I suspect they might have plateaued but it’s only a feeling without any evidence. Was great to see Piastri win in Qatar and I desperately want a Lando win too but consistently finishing on the podium will do for now.
And what of Ferrari? They need to find the car they had last season early on - pre the regulation changes raising the floor - and then add straight line speed. How easy that is, is another matter of course but they don’t really seem to have moved forward or backwards over the course of this year. Who knows where they’ll be because they’re Ferrari and you never know.
As for everyone else…
Aston seem great when they copy everything and then lose the plot when they do anything off their own back, they’ve slid down the grid and now they seem to be at their nadir this season.
Alpine are chaotic. They ran well in Austin (well, reliability/collisions aside) but they consistently fail to deliver as a works team.
I don’t see any of the other teams making any waves to move forward and challenge.
And then back to Red Bull. They’ve been in second gear all season haven’t they? Even when the others look like they’re getting close, Max f
ks off up the road and makes it look easy. Checo is having a mare of course but the car is pretty much flawless until you get to Singapore. They’ve had such a lead you can guarantee that next year they’ll be even better so perhaps they’ll be further ahead?
Will Mercedes get their act together and continue improving? They seem to have gotten closer through going with Lewis’ style rather than George’s at the cost of George. You’re gonna back the 7 time champ of course but it is interesting to see Russell struggle compared to early in the season (and of course beating Hamilton last year).
Have McLaren had their big boom in forward progress or will they continue? I suspect they might have plateaued but it’s only a feeling without any evidence. Was great to see Piastri win in Qatar and I desperately want a Lando win too but consistently finishing on the podium will do for now.
And what of Ferrari? They need to find the car they had last season early on - pre the regulation changes raising the floor - and then add straight line speed. How easy that is, is another matter of course but they don’t really seem to have moved forward or backwards over the course of this year. Who knows where they’ll be because they’re Ferrari and you never know.
As for everyone else…
Aston seem great when they copy everything and then lose the plot when they do anything off their own back, they’ve slid down the grid and now they seem to be at their nadir this season.
Alpine are chaotic. They ran well in Austin (well, reliability/collisions aside) but they consistently fail to deliver as a works team.
I don’t see any of the other teams making any waves to move forward and challenge.
And then back to Red Bull. They’ve been in second gear all season haven’t they? Even when the others look like they’re getting close, Max f
ks off up the road and makes it look easy. Checo is having a mare of course but the car is pretty much flawless until you get to Singapore. They’ve had such a lead you can guarantee that next year they’ll be even better so perhaps they’ll be further ahead?Edited by F1GTRUeno on Monday 23 October 21:03
My guess is "Mercedes" and "not very", respectively.
Mercedes are arguably the second fastest overall despite having a monocoque designed around the "zero side-pods" philosophy which can't be optimal for the more Redbullesque aero package they're moving towards. Assuming they've managed to do their homework right in the second half of this season, I think they have the most to gain from the opportunity to design a new monocoque.
Ferrari are arguably in a similar position but to my mind haven't demonstrated as much progress towards understanding where they need to go as Mercedes.
Mclaren's rise this year has been meteoric, but I think they started the season with a better concept than Mercedes, just very poorly executed, so I'd guess they have less scope for benefits from the all-new car next year.
Aston... who knows?
Given that they have clearly been fully focused on 2024 fro a while now, I think Redbull will start next season with a similar advantage to the one they started this season with and will once again have both championships wrapped up long before the end of the season.
ETA: I'm probably completely wrong though! Maybe Sauber will thrash everyone.
Mercedes are arguably the second fastest overall despite having a monocoque designed around the "zero side-pods" philosophy which can't be optimal for the more Redbullesque aero package they're moving towards. Assuming they've managed to do their homework right in the second half of this season, I think they have the most to gain from the opportunity to design a new monocoque.
Ferrari are arguably in a similar position but to my mind haven't demonstrated as much progress towards understanding where they need to go as Mercedes.
Mclaren's rise this year has been meteoric, but I think they started the season with a better concept than Mercedes, just very poorly executed, so I'd guess they have less scope for benefits from the all-new car next year.
Aston... who knows?
Given that they have clearly been fully focused on 2024 fro a while now, I think Redbull will start next season with a similar advantage to the one they started this season with and will once again have both championships wrapped up long before the end of the season.
ETA: I'm probably completely wrong though! Maybe Sauber will thrash everyone.
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 24th October 19:36
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