Medical follow-up by a doctor: Shanghai, China / Editorial

Five GP weekends, five different race tracks, five pole positions for Max Verstappen, four wins. At this moment we can say that we have a car that is fast on any kind of track.

We have to say that tire wear in Melbourne was unusually high for Red Bull conditions. When it comes to “Checo” Pérez’s car, we don’t know if the damage to his car contributed to this. But the results from the long term also show that there is a lot of wear. So that means: Fast, yes, but road surface and track can make a difference.

The competition where the opponents can get a little closer to us is Miami or Monaco, especially since the competition is close, especially in the qualifying race. I can imagine that it will not be easy to be in a good position there.

In China, Max had a difficult time shortly before the checkered flag when he drove on dirt at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour. Carbon fragments and, in the worst case, will deflate the tire immediately. We didn’t know how many pieces were there and how Max was affected by it because he was the first to get there. That’s always a concern.

And then on his last lap he added a bar, and our heart rate went up again.

Max is on a hot streak towards successfully defending his title. He’s getting better and better, even if it’s hard to imagine after last season. This is also seen when setting up your car. Even on a weekend in a short race format like Shanghai, we’re making progress step by step, in free practice and then straight into qualifying for the long race. There is an understanding between Max and the GP, namely his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

Max is no longer impatient, but instead pursues two goals calmly and seriously: put the car on pole if possible, but the main goal is on the race. This combination, this overview, along with the excellent tire management, all make it unbeatable at the moment.

Now we had the first sprint weekend of the year, the second will follow soon, in Miami. I have two opinions about the sprint format.

Red Bull organizes the Austrian Grand Prix. It is just a bonus for the spectators and therefore for the organizer that the fans are given the qualifying on Friday and the race on Saturday. So these two days are easier to sell than the regular weekend format. That is the commercial side.

In terms of sports, I’m more of a fan of the traditional process because the races take something away from the main event. In addition, because competitors only have one free practice session, coordination can be uneven, as happened two years ago in Brazil. By the rules of the time, under which no changes to the car were allowed, the race was as good as lost.

Conclusion on racing: as an organizer yes, as a racing fan no.

Behind the Red Bull Racing we are experiencing ups and downs among the pursuers. That makes me happy. Because that means that our lead increases if someone else always finishes behind us.

In China we were surprised that this time Lando Norris was the second team with McLaren. We expected the Ferrari to be more powerful. But neither in the long race nor in qualifying nor in the race could they approach the top three.

What I also like is that Sergio Pérez is showing a better performance in this first part of the season than he did a year ago. “Checo” no longer enters the race claiming that he really wants to beat Max. By this I also mean that in 2023 he will almost go on his own at the polls if the pace is not right. So he tried to approach Max in a technical way with a different setup. He left that.

Pérez now uses almost the same method as Verstappen when it comes to voting. As a result, he loses less time and is better, especially in qualifying, than in 2023.

There is also little to complain about the race: without the bad timing of the safety car phases, he probably would have finished second in China. But when he gets stuck in traffic, he can’t use his tire whispering qualities. Instead, he had to move forward, and that often comes down to tires.

If we ignore the Red Bull drivers for a moment: Lando Norris attracts other drivers, who have a clear grip of Oscar Piastri at McLaren than last year.

Then comes Carlos Sainz, who was always ahead of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari except in China. Also in qualifying. That surprised me. Even in qualifying, Sainz drives very aggressively and won impressively in Australia.

And then of course Fernando Alonso, who did amazing things in the last practice sessions and showed his great duel power in the race, as shown again in the duel with Pérez in Shanghai – does not give up.

A word about Bulls Racing.

Daniel Ricciardo was beaten by Lance Stroll in China and was unfortunately denied all positions. Yuki Tsunoda showed in Shanghai: Looking at another Shanghai athlete, Oscar Piastri, we see that the Australian was half a second to a full second slower than Lando Norris in the race. So Shanghai is definitely a track where experience counts, especially as newcomers got limited driving time in the race format.

The Racing Bulls may have made the mistake of letting Tsunoda ride the hard tires in the only free practice session, when the track was rendered almost gripless and Yuki just slid on the rollers.

In that race, Tsunoda’s lap times were on par with Ricciardo’s. He would have had a chance to score points, but Magnussen dashed those hopes.

Daniel Ricciardo had a new chassis available in China and the whole thing was planned from the beginning because it is our third chassis that we wanted to bring to the track. But of course this change also played into psychology after Daniel’s disappointing performances last weekend.

Things went better for Ricciardo in China. I can’t believe that Lance Stroll called him an idiot after the checkered flag fell. And that he should have also received a penalty for Miami. This really wasn’t his weekend.

There is currently talk in Formula 1 about giving points to the top twelve, not just the top ten like today. Reason: A two class society has been created. If the drivers of the top five teams have no technical problems and Mr. Stroll has a normal day, then there are no points for the other five racing teams.

Cost reduction has brought the field even closer, which leads to a very exciting battle in the mid-range. This has to be paid for somehow. When the ten horsemen are fighting hard but have no hope of getting the point, then maybe it’s time to make a change.

Added to this is the great trust that we see in the starting field. We were seeing the driver in 15th place being squeezed twice by the leader. Today it is no longer the case. So I see the points for the top twelve as proper progress.

System 1 will later move to Florida. I expect that we will also be competitive in Miami. But the conditions are completely different again, hot and humid. And we see how sensitive tires are to changing conditions.

We will fight for victory, but it will also play a big role in who among the chasers has the best day, and that will continue to vary depending on the track.