The contrast between Red Bull’s start to this season compared to last season is massive, with the team storming to a one-two finish this weekend after experiencing a double DNF last year.
From the minute the teams hit the track for pre-season testing this year, Red Bull have looked lightyears ahead of their rivals, with the RB19 being a positive evolution of the already impressive RB18.
Before the major regulation changes that came into effect at the start of last season, Mercedes had won eight consecutive constructors’ championships and with Red Bull looking like they might dominate for the second season in a row, Naomi Schiff has suggested that this entire era could be Red Bull dominated.
“Mercedes dominated in the previous regulation change era, and it looks like Red Bull absolutely nailed it last year with this huge new regulation change,” she told Give Me Sport.
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“They’ve obviously developed a car that’s incredible, and being able to walk into the second season with that much dominance and that much of a gap to the rest of the field is momentum that is incredibly valuable.”
Mercedes have not looked like a team capable of causing Red Bull any problems so far this year and while Ferrari will be hoping to improve on their 2022 title attempt this season, the Bahrain Grand Prix did not give a good indication.
Charles Leclerc was comfortably running in third place and looked set for a podium but despite Ferrari’s claims that they had fixed their reliability issues this year, the Monegasque driver was forced to retire from the race with an engine failure.
Naomi Schiff does have confidence Red Bull’s rivals closing the gap slightly but admits that it will be difficult to match the energy drink giants.
“Every tine someone improves, Red Bull are also continuously improving, so it’s going to be really tough to catch them,” she said.
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“But I do have faith that as least Ferrari and Mercedes will close that gap. Hopefully we won’t have to wait as long as we did last year for them to get a little closer.
“We want to see a battle on our hands with more than just one team with two teammates against each other. I’m worried that we’re walking into an era where this is just Red Bull’s time.”
Having dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix, Red Bull will be hoping that Schiff’s fears are realised and that they can go on to dominate the 2023 F1 season.