Ferrari may have started faster but reliability woes and poor strategy left it effectively out of contention by the summer break. Mercedes discovered that it had got its design under new regulations all wrong, and had to spend the entire year catching up.
There were no such issues for Red Bull, which appeared unaffected by mid-season rule tweaks and avoided a points deduction for breaching the cost cap.
Its strategy was largely sublime, and Sergio Perez managed to pick up wins where Max Verstappen couldn’t, although the tension between team-mates appeared to be rising as the year came to a close.
2023: Ferrari and Mercedes set to take the fight to Red Bull
Will we see more Mercedes vs Red Bull vs Ferrari battles in 2023?
Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images
It’s unlikely that the Milton Keynes team will have it so easy this season. Ferrari is said to have solved its engine reliability issue, which is expected to give Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz more power, while Mercedes looked on course to return to the front after George Russell took a win at the end of the season.
Red Bull is also hampered this year by a reduction in the amount of aerodynamic testing that it can carry out as a result of breaching the cost cap in 2021.
It all adds up to a closer battle for race wins and the championships. Christian Horner might be jiggling his foot on the pitwall at a record rate, but the hope is that it will offer gripping viewing for fans.
Red Bull 2023 F1 driver line-up
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| Max Verstappen | Sergio Perez |
Max Verstappen made it look easy in 2022, and is now chasing his third consecutive championship with Red Bull in 2023. Who would bet against him? Lewis Hamilton fans might.
The prospect of a competitive Mercedes offers a renewal of Hamilton and Verstappen’s unforgiving duel. But this time, if they continue to clash, the risk is that rivals will capitalise.
As well as the likelihood of front-running Ferraris, George Russell has shown himself capable of racing with team-mate Hamilton, while Perez picked up wins last year — and may well feel hard done by after Verstappen declined to help in his fight for second place during last year’s championship.