Webber predicts Red Bull F1 leading in 2023 season

Mark Webber thinks Red Bull F1 will still be the team to beat at the beginning of the season despite their budget cap causing aerodynamic disadvantages.

Red Bull’s violation of the 2021 F1 budget cap resulted in a 10% reduction in their wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) time allocation for the next year.

Red Bull was already slated to have the least amount of allowed aerodynamic testing due to their championship win in this year’s constructors competition.

However, Webber is confident that Red Bull will still be the “most dangerous” competitor in F1 when they line up in Bahrain in March.

“Red Bull will still be the biggest threat when the race starts,” Webber stated to Autosport.

“Everyone needs to improve in all areas. We saw that Mercedes was reliable, Ferrari was less so, but Red Bull had good reliability and was strong at all tracks,” Webber said.

“Max’s performance is often ‘Formula 1 plus.’ I was particularly impressed by his drive through the field at Spa. It was simply amazing,” Webber added.

Red Bull team manager Christian Horner called the aerodynamic penalty “harsh,” while CTO Adrian Newey acknowledged it will affect their performance, but couldn’t determine the extent.

“It’s unclear how much the restrictions will impact them, but they have enough talented individuals to overcome it,” Webber stated.

“The extent to which Mercedes has made sacrifices for this year 2022 is unclear. Using the term ‘sacrificed’ is not accurate as they always gain valuable knowledge for the next year,” Webber stated.

“What’s uncertain is how they divided their time, R&D, and budget between last year and the 2023 car, given the budget cap,” Webber explained.

“It will be intriguing to see how the first quarter of the season unfolds due to these factors,” Webber concluded.

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