Who’s stopping the Red Bulls? Alonso and McLaren are trying, Ferrari is aiming for third place

Hopes of seeing a struggling Red Bull-Honda during the season are fading. Success of Ferrari Of Carlos Sainz in Melbourne, after retirement Max Verstappen, seems like a faded memory. After the poor performance in Australia, the Dutchman won again at the Japanese GP in Suzuka, while on Saturday in China he won the Sprint race, starting fourth, then took the fifth pole in the five qualifying sessions held so far. And for the second time in a row, Sergio Perez will start secondproving the quality of Red Bull.

The Chinese Grand Prix is ​​on Sunday

What is attractive about Sprint racing is the ease of doing it Verstappenwho seemed to have a difficult time in wet Sprint qualifying, recovered from the dry to take the lead and then in 10 laps took 13″ from Lewis Hamilton, who was second at the finish line with Mercedes. Will it be the same in the match of Today’s Grand Prix? On paper, the two Red Bulls seem invincible and it seems that Verstappen and Perez are quickly pulling away from Fernando Alonso, the brilliant third with Aston Martin-Mercedes, and in the McLaren-Mercedes duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, fourth and fifth. In qualifying, Ferrari appeared to be conservative in terms of setup with Charles’ drivers Leclerc and Carlos Sainzsixth and seventh respectively, they did not hide their desire to be able to chase the podium.

McLaren was beaten in Japan, Aston Martin for a long distance so far has not appeared as the first part of the 2023 season.

Therefore, with a good strategy, the two drivers of the Maranello team can aspire to third place. Then, we will see how the two Red Bulls will perform in terms of race pace, whether there will be a lack of reliability or not, as happened in Australia with Verstappen. The game is open.