Terrifying Red Bull dominance. This time Perez wins ahead of Verstappen (started fifteenth). Very dark day for Ferraris.
– Two braces in two races. That would be enough to describe Red Bull’s dominance of the 2023/2024 Formula 1 championship. Yet it is not enough. Because the performance fielded also in Saudi Arabia was disarming. Unreachable car, negligible tire wear, clear strategies, strong drivers. This team lacks nothing to dominate this vintage of motoring. Not even starting a meter and a half ahead allowed Fernando Alonso to defeat the enemy. Red Bull is too stronger than any other single-seater on the circuit. Well done Newey, Horner, Verstappen and Perez, little else to add;
– I praise Sergio Perezwho with these 25 points wins the umpteenth race of his career, finishing second in the general standings just one point behind his class leader Verstappen. Had it not been for the “disobedience” of the reigning world champion, it would have been for him the first time in his career at the top of the drivers’ standings. It is impossible to know how long this state of health will last, but Checo is perhaps the only reason why it might be worth continuing to follow this Formula 1 world championship with a modicum of interest. Let’s hope it doesn’t collapse, or at least that it does later possible;
– What a heartbreak the Ferraris. After an encouraging start by Leclerc, who had deluded everyone with some of his overtakings, the reds melted like snow in the sun as the race progressed. The blunder was generated by the soft tyres, obviously faster than the mediums at the start of the race. Yet today the strategy of the Ferrari wall had worked, with the overcuts on Stroll effective both with Sainz but above all with Leclerc, good at managing the red tire making it last as long as a yellow one. At the end of the race, however, thanks to a rather imaginative safety car, the result is certainly disappointing. Sainz’s sixth place and Leclerc’s seventh place sadly seem to reflect the absolute value of this car. Fourth force, not much to say. There is already talk of halting the development of the SF-23 in order to be able to concentrate already on the 2024 machine. We talk about this…;
– The most embarrassing world championship of the hybrid era is expected. Diego Canneta, our expert pundit, has predicted dubs for everyone in Barcelona, such is the domain of the flying bulls. What was surprising today was not Max Verstappen’s comeback from fifteenth to second place, but the 20 seconds given to the exceptional Alonso (also finished third today) in the middle of the race, after an endless string of fast laps after fast laps. In our memory, not even in the era of the Mercedes domination had there been such a gap between one manufacturer and all the others;
– Special consideration for the heart that the Sky team puts into it every week in the narration of a world championship already finished on the first Friday of the year. The pathos that Vanzini and Genè put into the commentary is moving. The speech for Matteo Bobbi is already different, he is obviously off the hook. Even Valsecchi has already begun to show the first signs of weakness. Stoic, however, Masolin and Sangiorgio, charged as if we had real competition.