Red Bull Racing wrapped up its sixth Constructors’ title, and second in a row, at Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Red Bull has dominated the 2023 season and amassed a sizeable advantage in the championship, assisted by its closest rivals – Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren – all taking points off each other in the battle for the runner-up spot.
It stood a slim chance of sealing the title in Singapore but that failure made a championship clincher in Japan, home of engine partner Honda, highly likely.
No team has before clinched a Constructors title with so many grands prix – six – left to run in a season.
The Austrian outfit claimed its first Constructors’ Championship in 2010, with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, a year after emerging as a front-runner under revised aerodynamic regulations.
That marked the first of four successive titles, with Vettel claiming the Drivers’ crown each season before it slipped behind Mercedes in 2014.
Red Bull remained an occasional challenger to Mercedes – on average winning a few races a year – and was regularly second or third in the championship.
It had a chance of winning the 2021 title but, while Max Verstappen grabbed the Drivers’ crown, Mercedes wrapped up another championship in the teams’ battle.
Last season Red Bull hit its stride once more as it finally brought Mercedes’ reign to a close and returned to the top of the Constructors’ standings following the return to ground effect aerodynamics with the introduction of new technical rules.
Discussion about this post