After Pink Bull dominated the second race of the 2023 Method 1 season, the sullen Lewis Hamilton claimed that the chase pack was as soon as as forward as his group.
It is a massive declare. When the period of the V6 hybrid turbo started 9 years in the past, Mercedes destroyed the competitors and remained in that place for 3 years. It might not have been the all-time highest watermark of domination for a automotive and group, nevertheless it was probably the most one-sided competitors any driver has ever skilled on the grid immediately.
We have seen what the Pink Bull RB19 is able to in simply two races to date this yr. However final weekend’s race in Jeddah was sufficient to sprint rivals’ hopes that the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit was praising its talents. Nobody doubts that Pink Bull will lose the title this yr.
Nonetheless, this early have a look at their efficiency ought to include the caveat that we do not see what they’re able to with all tire varieties and monitor configurations. Maybe an “excessive” venue like Singapore might meet up with them, as occurred to Mercedes in 2015.
However primarily based on the restricted information out there to date, it appears that evidently the RB19 is not fairly appropriate for the superior Mercedes automobiles of 2014-2016. The benefit by way of pure sorting velocity is barely much less. Utilizing the typical efficiency benefit of 4 automobiles in these seasons, the RB19 is properly behind three Mercedes:
Which may learn a little bit bit how far Pink Bull is forward. Max Verstappen laps half a second quicker than teammate Sergio Perez in Jeddah and was pulled over as a consequence of a propeller shaft failure. He might most likely set a quicker pole time, although not sufficient for him to have the identical benefit as his 2014-16 Mercedes.
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Whereas Pink Bull’s benefit in qualifying is within the order of some tenths of a second, it’s a lot higher within the race. At occasions final weekend, they had been as much as a second per lap quicker than their opponents, particularly after they switched to laborious tires within the second half of the race. This benefit dissipated because the tires deteriorated:
However Mercedes’ benefit was higher in years when it was additionally dominant in racing. Within the second race of the V6 hybrid turbo period in Bahrain, Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg confronted off in a battle of victory that exposed how briskly they had been from the chase swarm.
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After a Security Automobile interval on the finish of the race, Hamilton and Rosberg outstripped their followers by a staggering 2.8 seconds per lap. That is greater than double what we noticed from Pink Bull in Jeddah.
Verstappen’s drive shaft. The failure allowed Perez to take the second pole place of his profession on the sphere the place he scored his first objective 12 months in the past. He went on to assert his fifth grand prix victory.
Perez now has as many wins as Giuseppe Farina, Keke Rosberg, Clay Regazzoni, John Watson, Michele Alboreto and Charles Leclerc. However his pole win fee is strikingly completely different from that of Leclerc, who has 18 pole positions to his identify.
Pink Bull have scored their twenty fourth one-two objective, however remarkably that is solely the second time in F1 historical past to prime the rostrum in back-to-back races. The one earlier occasion preceded all world championship achievements.
Their drivers additionally reversed positions on each events. Verstappen received in Bahrain and Perez received in Saudi Arabia and Sebastian Vettel received at Silverstone 14 years in the past, whereas Mark Webber did the identical on the following lap on the Nürburgring, the place the duo completed runner-up in these two races. .
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Verstappen made the twenty second quickest lap in his profession, giving him bonus factors. It additionally equalized the longest streak of 21 races, stretching again to final yr’s Australian Grand Prix. The file of 48 belongs to Hamilton.
Verstappen took second place on the grid from fifteenth place. Had he been higher than both, he would have been the second driver in F1 historical past to win from fifteenth on the grid, the opposite being Fernando Alonso on the notorious 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
After some forwards and backwards with the officers in Jeddah, Alonso was confirmed to have completed on the one hundredth podium. Persevering with his sturdy begin to the season, he took back-to-back podiums for Ferrari for the primary time since ending second within the Italian and Singaporean Grands Prix in 2013.
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