There is a pattern emerging behind Red Bull that is frankly making all the races this year a bit boring.
Ferrari clearly dominates the competition. McLaren are the third-place team, with Mercedes and Aston Martin in fourth and fifth positions open to debate.
Fitted with tires with maximum grip that hide some of the cars' weaknesses, the lap-long performance of these four cars is close enough that the grid order could be disrupted. However, in a race you can see the true pace of the car.
Charles Leclerc made a great recovery from a difficult qualifying to finish in 8th place. He took advantage of the fact that he was the only front-runner to attempt a one-stop strategy (in theory slower than two-stops, but could run at his own pace for longer), allowing his Ferrari teammate, He finished in a respectable fourth place behind Carlos Sainz. But Leclerc has been able to achieve this because the team has made huge strides since last year.
Ferrari also had the second fastest car by the end of 2023, although it certainly didn't start in that position last year, but it has moved a step closer to Red Bull this season in terms of overall competitiveness.
This isn't as obvious in qualifying, but it's certainly noticeable in the race, where stability and tire management are vastly improved. And there are further expectations, perhaps enough to get him in the fight with Red Bull by mid-season.
Sainz said: “I'm very satisfied.'' “We improved the car exactly where we wanted to improve and Suzuka proved that. Still, in a place like Suzuka we are not as fast as Red Bull, which is our goal. As soon as I bring it up, I hope to upgrade to a car that will move me in the right direction and bring me closer.
“We improved everywhere, but especially in our race pace. It also gives us strategic flexibility that we didn't have last year.”
“I think they will definitely have the advantage for the first third of the season until we introduce one or two upgrades to be able to play against them more consistently.
“But by then it might be a little too late considering the advantage they might have in the championship.”
The effectiveness of team principal Frédéric Vasseur, who was hired to clean up the mess the team found itself in at the end of 2022, is clear and there appears to be positive momentum at Maranello.
“We've taken a big step forward in speed,” Vasseur said. [corners] Compared to last year, Suzuka is a good example of tire management. But now we have another weakness. It's always a compromise. Even if you make progress somewhere, you lose somewhere.
“Overall, compared to Red Bull from last year to this year in the last four races and the first four races of this season, we have made quite a bit of progress.
“Certainly they're still a little ahead of the curve. The goal is to be able to put pressure on them and when there's pressure they make more mistakes. That wasn't the case today, but I hope in the future it will be. I hope.”