Bitcar Original I don’t know if you are still impressed by my F1 review article last year. The title at that time was "Record-Setting Year". This year Red Bull Racing and Verstappen have set unprecedented records, so the title of today’s review article is a no-brainer for me, just call it “Another Record-Setting Year.” On Sunday, November 26, Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi championship in a Pole to Win manner, bringing a perfect end to 2023 for him and the Red Bull Racing Team. This year, Red Bull Racing almost won the championship for the whole year, well, just a little bit.
●Verstappen wins again at home
As for the review before this year’s F1 summer break, you can check out my previous content → "Red Bull Wins All!" Review of the first half of the 2023 F1 World Championship. So today we will start talking after the summer break. The first stop after returning from the summer break was Verstappen's home stadium, the Netherlands. Although Sunday's race was a bit chaotic due to the weather, the final championship was still won by Verstappen. At this time, he also tied Vettel's 2013 victory. A single-season winning streak record of nine consecutive wins. Of course, this record died after the Italian Grand Prix the next week, because the highest podium in Italy was still occupied by the Dutch driver.
●Red Bull lost in Singapore
So let’s skip Italy and go straight to the venue of F1’s first night race, Singapore. This is the only place where Red Bull Racing didn't win the championship or even get on the podium this year. Before the Singapore Grand Prix, Dr. Marco once said: "If we can win in Singapore, then Red Bull will have a chance to win all the races this year." Unfortunately, he failed to do so in the end, and there were two Red Bulls in qualifying. A rare scene where the car was eliminated in Q2.
The reason why Red Bull Racing failed to get on the podium here is simply because the streets in Singapore are relatively bumpy, so the team raised the chassis to avoid excessive wear of the chassis. At the same time, in order to deal with the problems of track bumps and front wheel heating, Red Bull also used a softer front suspension setting here, but these measures did not solve the problem. In short, Red Bull could not find a suitable car adjustment that weekend. This made Ferrari and Sainz the champion here, and it was also the only team besides Red Bull Racing to win a race this year. Although I was very happy to see other teams win the championship, as a fan of Lando Norris, I was not so happy to see Noble finish second again.
●Red Bull Racing’s reign of terror
Starting from the Japanese Grand Prix, F1 returned to the rhythm of Verstappen winning championships. From Japan to Abu Dhabi, there was another wave of 7 consecutive victories. In the end, Verstappen set a record of 19 wins in a single season. He also became the first driver in F1 history to lead more than 1,000 laps in a single season. So today I don’t want to talk about Verstappen’s results anymore, because the only one who can beat him this year is himself.Let’s talk about this year’s RB19 car.
In 1988, the McLaren MP4-4 race car won 15 of 16 races in the season, with a winning rate of 93.75%; in 2016, the Mercedes-AMG W07 race car won 19 of 21 races, with a winning rate of 90.5%; this year, the Red Bull RB19 race car won 21 of 22 races , with a winning rate of 95.5%, in addition to 14 pole positions, 5 sprint championships, 30 podiums and 11 fastest laps. The 860 team points throughout the year even exceeded Ferrari and Mercedes. -AMG points total. There is also a little trivia here. Whether it is Red Bull this year or McLaren in 1988, the victory they lost that season was "stolen" by Ferrari.
For a racing car with such dominance, I have to mention the great Newey. From Williams Racing in the early 1990s, to the later McLaren era, and the recent Bull Dynasty, Newey is the only engineer to have won the F1 Constructors' Championship with three different F1 teams. Of course, in addition to the awesome Newey, excellent racing stability is also very important. This year, Verstappen completed all 22 races without ever retiring due to mechanical failure. We must know that under the current rules, only four sets of power units can be used throughout the year. How to ensure that the power units do not malfunction during their service life requires the joint efforts of the team and team partners.
In 2017, ExxonMobil became the official technical partner of Red Bull Racing, providing fuel, lubricants and technical support to Red Bull Racing. That season, Mobil provided Red Bull Racing with a smaller Esso with the same quality. Fuel, and Mobil 1, as the team’s official lubricant partner, has provided dedicated high-performance lubricant products to Red Bull Racing since the beginning of the partnership. You must know that there are more than 4,000 moving parts in the power unit, and the engine is extremelyThe rotation speed is limited to 15,000 rpm, and the maximum temperature of the turbine during competition can reach 950 degrees Celsius. Under such harsh engine conditions, Mobil 1 lubricating oil can still effectively lubricate the engine components of Red Bull Racing.
In addition, ExxonMobil has also continued the tradition of "track laboratory" from the cooperation between the two parties in 2017 to the present. ExxonMobil will be stationed in the team's garage every race weekend to provide the team with real-time technical analysis. According to statistics, throughout the year, team engineers will extract more than 1,100 lubricant samples from the engines, gearboxes and hydraulic systems of the two racing cars. These samples can provide more than thousands of points of analysis data and are mainly used to Detect potential component failures, increase reliability, and reduce the likelihood of unexpected failures. From the team to the drivers, to the cars and to the technical partners, Red Bull Racing ensures perfect performance in every aspect, creating brilliant results this year that are unprecedented and may not be the same after. Ah, this conversation about racing has gone a bit in-depth. Finally, let’s talk about some other interesting things in this year’s race.
●High temperature from the Middle East
First of all, at the Qatar Grand Prix, the high temperature made many drivers feel uncomfortable. Russell opened his goggles to ventilate and cool down during the race. O'Connell vomited in his helmet due to physical discomfort. Sargent finally had to retire due to high temperature + flu. Teammate Albon was even sent to the medical center for treatment of acute heat stroke after the game. Therefore, after the game, the FIA stated that it would take corresponding measures to ensure the health of the drivers. What I have to say here is that our little Zhou once again finished ninth in the hot and dry Qatar and brought home points, and he was still alive and kicking after the game.
●The smartest man at Ferrari
Another thing I want to talk about is the two Ferrari drivers. Sainz is the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race this year. Of course, he also won the race fromComing out of Red Bull youth training. In the final stage of the Singapore Grand Prix, Sainz indirectly defended Russell, who had a tire advantage, by giving DRS to Norris behind him. I have to say that Sainz's operation is really "coquettish". Then there was Leclerc in the final round. In order to help the team surpass the Mercedes-AMG team in the standings, Leclerc gave up to Perez in the final stage of the race. Although this method did not work in the end, it can be seen that The "car dealers" of the two Ferrari drivers are still quite online. Referring to the performance of Ferrari's strategy team, perhaps the smartest people in the Ferrari team are the two sitting in the car.
●The liveries of this year’s racing cars
I don’t know if you have noticed that this year the frequency of special liveries launched by various teams has increased, from Red Bull Miami’s special livery at the beginning of the season to McLaren’s triple crown consisting of black, white and orange used in Monaco livery, and then to the 800th race commemorative livery of Silverstone Williams Racing Team. When the season entered the second half, the probability of special livery appearances increased. Williams used Gulf Oil special liveries in the Singapore, Japanese and Qatar Grand Prix; Ferrari and Alfa Romeo teams used them in Italy. Special home paint; McLaren also used orange and black special paint at the two Asian races in Singapore and Japan. The number of special liveries reached its peak in Las Vegas, where Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, ALPINE, Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo all launched special liveries.
For mid-to-lower teams with poor performance, launching special livery may be the easiest way to increase exposure. After all, the sponsor's contract must have this requirement. So this year Williams has released a number of special liveries. Of course, the championship for the number of special liveries this year will still be awarded to the McLaren team. Although they will not have performance pressure in the second half of the season, as a fanMcLaren, with one of the youngest driver lineups in the paddock, is also good at daily tidying up. However, for model enthusiasts like us, there is a lot of pressure to accept the model. After all, a model is not cheap now, so you need to think twice about buying a special paint job.
●Summary:
In the blink of an eye, the 2023 F1 World Championship with 23 races has come to an end. I believe that the memories of all fans this year will be the outstanding results of Red Bull Racing and Verstappen, as well as the national anthems of the Netherlands and Austria. After the end of this season, every fan is undoubtedly looking forward to the start of the new season. However, Hamilton recently expressed concerns about the new season, because the Red Bull RB19 car has not been upgraded much in the second half of this year, but it can still finish well. The official station crossed the finish line with an advantage of 17 seconds. Rather than upgrading the car in the middle and late stages of the season, it means that the team puts all its research and development focus on new cars. As a car fan, I still hope that more teams and drivers can participate in the championship competition at each station. After all, such competitions are more exciting. No one hopes that there will be no suspense in the entire season just after the summer break. So next year, will Hamilton be able to challenge for the eighth championship? Can McLaren's two young drivers bring a long-lost race championship to the team? What will Ferrari's strategy team do? Can Xiao Zhou's performance help him? Win the contract for the next year and see you in Bahrain on February 29, 2024.
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