The Spanish Grand Prix was dominated by Max Verstappen, but Mercedes also left Barcelona feeling positive. A double podium for the team of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and F1 analyst Peter Windsor expects a win later in the year for the German team.
'Watch Mercedes'
It will have been almost two years since Hamilton last won an F1 race. In 2022, Russell won the Brazilian Grand Prix, the only win for the team in 2022, a team which has dominated the past decade. However, Windsor thinks that victories could be on the horizon again for the team later this year, specifically when Red Bull Racing turns its attention to the 2024 car.
Windsor says in a YouTube video: "Look, for Mercedes certainly, if not for possibly maybe Aston Martin, to be able to win races later in the year. That's because they will be making progress, inevitably, and partly because of Red Bull. They are going to be in a position where they are impregnable, which will be halfway through the season, if not already now."
Red Bull will focus on 2024 early on
Red Bull has won all seven races so far this season. Verstappen put five wins behind his name, with Sergio Perez claiming the other two. Windsor believes that Red Bull will soon be practically unbeatable by the competition. The Briton continued: "They will start to back away from spending too much budget, time and effort on this year's car and will focus on the 2024 car."
The analyst explains that he also saw the same thing happen at the end of 2022. Mercedes won the race in Brazil, but they were not as strong in Abu Dhabi. In any case, Red Bull's performance at that time also seemed a bit more average: "The car was nothing as quick as it could have been, being put under pressure. I think it will be the same story in 2023."
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Being a Redbull fan, I miss the Ferrari in the fight upfront. They started well last year and watching Max and Charles at the front was a sight to behold. But later they lost the way completely. Want that competition again, please Ferrari ?
I predicted this during the Monaco GP. Mercedes data was very good and they had the car to qualify p2. both their drivers are under-performing atm. In the last two races, they had the car to qualify p2 and p3 (with perez's mistakes). Now with their major updates, Mercedes is close to the budget cap and wont have much to develop this year (minor updates).
Brazil was a sprint race, and if I remember correctly, RedBull couldn't get the setup right in the limited time they had. If it was a regular race week they would probably won there too
Correct
After only 1 free practice, RB was completely off with their set-up......which they were not allowed to change anymore due to Parc Ferme
Also, Max was driving with a damaged front wing