Red Bull warn McLaren as Lando Norris threatens F1 rival Max Verstappen
Red Bull plan to break an already barely-believable Formula 1 record next year to further underline their dominance of the grid.
The team won the constructors' championship by miles this year after building what was by far the quickest car. And Max Verstappen got the most out of it as he romped to his third-straight drivers' title.
It was the most dominant season the sport has ever seen - but still not quite perfect. They won 21 of 22 races with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz taking advantage of a rare off-weekend for Red Bull in Singapore.
And though Red Bull also took the award for the fastest average pit stop times, they did not record the quickest wheel change of the year. That was achieved by McLaren, who set a ridiculous world record in the process.
It was managed despite the sweltering heat of the Qatar Grand Prix. The team's pit crew managed to change all four wheels of Lando Norris' so quickly that he was stationary for just 1.8 seconds - helping him to reach the podium.
Sebastian Vettel warns of looming F1 ban and is "very worried about the future"
Red Bull managed a 1.98-second stop but otherwise didn't come close to matching that new record. And sporting director Jonathan Wheatley has made it clear that beating it is a target for his team next year.
Speaking in a very complimentary manner about McLaren's achievement on the Talking Bull podcast, Wheatley said: "What we saw with the McLaren stuff - I'm totally happy talking about it after a couple of weeks of therapy - is an incredibly well-executed pit stop by every single person.
"All 22 of them, including the driver - hats off to them, they did an amazing job. But our goal is to keep doing the lowest average times of everyone and, at some point, it will all click together. Yeah, I'd be lying if I said it's not a target to beat it."
Red Bull may need their pit crew's speed more often next year if McLaren continue to close the gap on track as well as in the pit lane. Their excellent development progress throughout the season saw it end with Norris as the closest challenger to Verstappen and sees the Woking-based squad head into 2024 as the team most likely to take the fight to the defending champions.
Norris is still without a win in more than 100 F1 races but continues to be regarded as a potential world champion with the right car. And he plans to end his win drought in 2024, telling reporters: "It's going to be next year, and I'm with McLaren next year, I feel like we're so close... If we can start the season a little bit strong, at least, then I think it can be a great year."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
