Red Bull Contentpool

Exclusive

Verstappen in class of his own in Spain after admiring competitors

Verstappen in class of his own in Spain after admiring competitors

03-06-2023 06:00 Last update: 08:57
1
Author profile picture

Tim Kraaij

Max Verstappen seems to be in control after the first and second free practice sessions in Spain. The Dutchman is dominating at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the competition is watching with visible wonder (and a touch of fear).

Updates in Barcelona

Barcelona is always the focus of updates from different teams. Every year, this is the place to test new parts, because at this circuit, all teams and drivers know where to find every pebble. The circuit is also an extremely suitable gauge for the rest of the season, as it includes everything from an F1 calendar. So the moment to see where you really stand.

Everyone knows where one team stands. On Thursday, this is already noticeable, as Red Bull Racing comes up in almost every press moment. Verstappen himself flatly states that Red Bull should be able to win every race by 2023, and there is no competitor to contradict him. Whether you speak to Fernando Alonso or Charles Leclerc, nobody considers the chances of winning to be high.

In the first free practice, this is also noticeable. Verstappen quickly finds the right setup, drives one quick run on the red tyre and then already goes out for a longrun on medium. While most are still looking for a desired setup, Verstappen is already working on Sunday's race. Twelve laps Max drives with times fluctuating between 1.20.7 and 1.21.5. Times that, especially given their consistency, the competition can only dream about. Even teammate Perez is not driving those times. He drives between 1.20.8 and 1.21.8.

Competitors impressed by RB19

Perez still indicated on Thursday that he is fully focused on a world title and thinks he can really compete with Verstappen, but in Barcelona the Mexican cannot keep up for now. The competition has completely lost out and this is also painfully evident in the team bosses' press conference.

After Perez's crash in Monaco, many images of the underside of the RB19 appeared. GPblog asked the team bosses present at the press conference (Andrea Stella, Mike Krack and Frederic Vasseur) if they had spent a lot of time analysing that picture and if it was of any real use to them.

Stella admitted with a big smile that even he, as McLaren's team boss, put some hours into those photos. Indeed, Stella couldn't help but compliment Red Bull. He figuratively took his hat off to it and could not help but state that Red Bull has done its homework well.

An honest analysis, which Vasseur and Krack did not imitate him because the answer for them had actually already been given. However, the faces said enough: the floor of the RB19 impressed. Of course, this was already noticeable because the underside of the W14, which was also on show at the same weekend, was pretty simple compared to Red Bull. As Vasseur might then argue, you can't just copy a floor, but such a difference is of course remarkable.

No one can match Verstappen

After the press conference, the teams have to take to the track again for the second free practice session, and once again it is Verstappen who is fastest of everyone. On one lap, Alonso is close behind, but Verstappen is not even really aiming for a fast time. After just one fast lap, he swaps his tyres and prepares for a double longrun. First on mediums (9 laps between 1.19.6 and 1.20.3) and then on softs (10 laps between 1.18.4 and 1.19.5). This also gives Verstappen the most laps of the day (34) to reach a total of 66 laps driven on Friday.

In the qualifying run, Alonso and Perez are still close, but they need more laps to do so. They are short of those laps at the end to do the double longrun. Perez can look at Verstappen's data to determine a strategy, but unlike Verstappen he hardly gets below 1.20.0 in his longruns. The same goes for Alonso, by the way.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc look better in that respect. The Ferrari drivers also drove a full-fledged longrun on Friday and each also came to several laps in the 1.19 range. Leclerc did so in the middle of his stint, Sainz at the end. That puts them in better shape than it looked, but still far away from the laps Verstappen put on the clock.

The feeling that prevails in Barcelona during such a weekend is therefore not surprising. Red Bull has been dominant this whole F1 season and that is not going to change overnight. In Spain, a dominant team generally only comes out even more dominant.

Perez's job is to make this weekend exciting. On Friday night and Saturday morning, he will have to work to close the gap with Verstappen. Leclerc and Sainz will be hoping for a step forward with the new updates, while Alonso will be only too happy to be on the podium in front of his fans. Mercedes is missing from this list, but that is not surprising. In qualifying and race runs, they did not come close on Friday. So plenty of homework for them too.