Formula 1, before a historic year: can Red Bull be the first team to win all races in a season?

Red Bull is the absolute ruler of the beginning of the season Formula 1. With two great drivers and some fast and steady RB19s, he had five victories in five racesthree from the hands of the two-time champion Max Verstappen and two thanks to Sergio Perezand four “1-2”. This enormous effectiveness has positioned the team as leader of the drivers’ championships, with the Dutch first and the Mexican second, and of the constructors, in which it has already taken 122 points ahead of Aston Martin.

Relentless, the Austrian team has, for many, both titles in their pocket. And while there’s still a long way to go, it seems well on its way to settling down an unprecedented record in the premier class of motorsport.

“They will win all the races of the season”insured George Russell after Bahrain, the first round of 2023, in which Verstappen was first and Pérez escorted him. the British of Mercedes he was encouraged to make a prognosis that sounded very risky at the time, but doesn’t seem so crazy today.

Will Red Bull be able to get on the top step of the podium in the 18 stages left on the calendar? If they succeed, they will become the first team in history to win all Grands Prix in one championship.

There have been three teams that have come very close to achieving that feat. The best winning percentage in a year was achieved McLaren In 1988when he triumphed in 15 of the 16 Tests played, with 93.75% efficiency.

With Ayrton Senna AND Alain Prost at the wheel of their single-seaters, the British team only missed the 12th round, the Italian Grand Prixwhich took place in September in Monza, where the Austrian won Gerhard BergerFrom Ferrari.

Seine, departed from pole and conducted almost the entire test up to a collision with the williams From Jean Louis Schlesser relegated, finished the league with eight victories and claimed the first of its three titles. Prost took seven wins and finished second, despite him accumulating more points over the year than the Brazilian. Is that only the best 11 results were counted to determine the champion.

The other teams that have lost one win less in a championship were Ferraris in 1952 (seven out of eight, with Alberto Ascarisample, e Piero Taruffi) AND Alfa Romeo in 1950winning six out of seven, with Joseph Farinawho got the title, e Juan Manuel Fangio.

With 23 races on the calendar this year, Red Bull could become the first team to win all grands prix in a single season. And it could even overtake Mercedes as the best test winner in the same championship.

The German team set the record by winning 19 of the 21 games contested in 2016. Nico Rosberg he took the top four. Verstappen, with Red Bull, took fifth place in Spain. Mercedes celebrated in the next ten, four times with the German and six with Lewis Hamilton. Again Red Bull, with Daniel Ricciardo, concluded his streak in Malaysia. But the silver arrows they close with five more victories in a row: one for Rosberg, champion with five points more than his teammate, and four for Hamilton.

Neither the 1988 McLaren nor the 2016 Mercedes had had such a roaring start as Red Bull in 2023. The British team won their first five races but managed just three ‘1-2’s in that championship won by Senna. And the German added four victories and two 1-2s to the start seven years ago.

This season, Verstappen and Pérez are unstoppable. That’s how they feel every time they hit the track. And that’s how their rivals see it too.

“With the performance they have, I don’t see anyone who can stand up to them“Russell mused after making his curious prediction, after Bahrain.

Toto WolffMercedes team manager, agrees with his driver: “Red Bull will win every race this season. We will try to fight, but this year it won’t be like this. One team is way ahead of the others and is playing with its rivals.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton, who escorted Verstappen to Melbourne, acknowledged: “I have never seen a car as fast as this Red Bull. When we were fast, we weren’t that fast.”

After the Miami Grand Prix, in which the Austrian team signed another “1-2” with Crazy Maximus AND Czechin this order, Fernando Alonso recognized the superiority of the RB19.

“At the start of the year a podium was incredible. Now we want more, a second place, but The Red Bulls are indestructible, very fast“, commented the Spaniard, third with Aston Martin on all dates except Azerbaijan.

Though not everyone is encouraged to make a bold prognosis like Russell and Wolff. Pierre GasleyFrom Alpineassuring that it is still too early to accept that Red Bull will be the only protagonist in a championship that lacks, at least for now, great emotions.

“What happens if you go to the cinema and after 15 minutes the film looks like crap, but the last hour and a half is wonderful?” asked the Frenchman.

While after the third appointment in Australia, Stefano Domenicalithe managing director of F1, ventured: “Red Bull is very, very competitive, but I hope that the others catch up. The championship is very long and I think we will have some nice surprises before the end”.