The Fernando Alonso and Hamilton team in Formula 1 is getting closer and closer to the leader of the season thanks to the improvements introduced
The 2023 F1 Canadian GP provided the most even outcome of the seasonwith the exception of Australia, where all the cars finished close due to the intervention of the Safety Car. This result of Verstappen it has raised expectations of a possible level playing field between Aston Martin, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, the dominant team so far. Fernando Alonso finished just 9.570 seconds behind Verstappen, closely followed by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen, being questioned about whether he had managed his rhythm or had pushed to the limit, revealed a post-race conversation with Alonso: “Fernando has already asked me that. It’s tough, because it’s usually about tire management, right? But this time it was definitely more about squeezing. But sometimes he would just go up and down the lap time a lot…it wasn’t really pushing hard but it wasn’t relaxing too much either, I guess it was something in between.”
The role of Hamilton and Alonso in the race
To the question of if at any point in the race you were concerned about the pace of Alonso or Hamilton, Verstappen replied: “You don’t worry, but you are alert because you keep checking if you are getting caught or not. When Lewis moved into second at the start, I saw what his pace was and then I was able to manage my pace based on that.” Despite this constant supervision, the Red Bull driver managed to maintain control throughout the race.
However, Toto Wolff, CEO of MercedesHe has a different vision. According to Wolff, “Don’t forget that Max was cruising. Maybe not completely at cruising speed, but he’s calm at the front, there’s still a margin and there’s still a big gap to close.” This comment suggests that Wolff believes that Verstappen still has room for improvement.
Red Bull’s dominance in the 2023 season
On the other hand, Hamilton considers that Verstappen’s team is already working on next year’s car: “I think Max’s team is already working on next year’s car, so we have to forget about the title and focus on next year as well, but yeah, we’re happy to be up there. Thus, after eight races, no non-Red Bull driver has managed to win.
Verstappen maintains a significant lead in the drivers’ world championship, with almost 70 points ahead of the second classified. In addition, Red Bull leads the 2023 constructors’ championship, almost doubling the second-placed. This dominance demonstrates the superiority of Red Bull in the 2023 season. Likewise, despite Verstappen’s efforts to keep pace and mounting pressure from his competitors, Red Bull’s dominance continues to be evident.