Ex-Renault Formula 1 boss Cyril Abiteboul asserts that rival teams are solely to blame for Red Bull’s dominance during the 2023 season.
Red Bull enjoyed unparalleled success during the past campaign, winning all but one of the 22 rounds to be held to surpass the previous (19) best set by Mercedes seven years ago.
Meanwhile, the Austrian outfit, who wrapped up the Constructors’ title with record rounds to spare, also surpassed McLaren’s 1988 benchmark with 11 consecutive victories.
Abiteboul believes that Red Bull’s ongoing dominance is superior to Ferrari’s at the turn of the millennium because it has occurred when the grid is on a more level playing field.
Speaking to franceinfo, Abiteboul, who also labelled Max Verstappen’s supremacy “unprecedented”, said: “Ferrari’s dominance was at a time when F1 was much less competitive than it is now. Ferrari dominated with budgets and a structure that had nothing to do with the other teams.
“For its part, Red Bull is a prestigious team, very well organised and financed, but it is not the only one. They dominate in an environment where the others are not weak.”
With the regulations remaining relatively stable between 2022 and this season, Abiteboul insists that there was no excuse for the other sides not to match Red Bull.
“When there is a change in regulations, we can have a team who worked particularly well, and who found a trick, but here in 2023, the regulations were already known,” he added. “The other teams should have become more competitive.
“Red Bull has built itself as a team thanks to its ability to generate aerodynamic downforce, with very good modelling tools and a very good wind tunnel, very precise.
“They were also able to invest and concentrate on these precise points because they did not have to worry about the engine, supplied for a time by Renault then by Honda.”
Although Red Bull’s Sergio Perez secured second place in the Drivers’ standings, the Mexican only registered two wins and trailed his team-mate by a sizeable 290 points.
“Max is exceptional, but Perez is far from being a handler or a junior,” Abiteboul highlighted.
Abiteboul, who managed Verstappen’s ex-Red Bull partner Daniel Ricciardo at Renault, thinks the Dutchman upholds a “psychological ascendancy” over the rest.
“The apparent ease that he can have in overtaking is also linked to the fact that the drivers do not fight against him. They know that they cannot race with him,” he explained.
“Rather than wearing out their rubber to hold him back, they let it pass.”
The Frenchman, now overseeing Hyundai’s venture in the WEC, is convinced Red Bull and Verstappen will continue to reign at the top until the next regulation overhaul in 2026.
“It’s a championship that has remarkable commercial dynamics, because it brings new things every year like the Las Vegas Grand Prix,” he concluded. “There are many other interests than first place in the Drivers’ Championship.
“If this situation drags on too long, it would cause problems, but I would be surprised if this dominance, as we have seen it this season, remains intact next season.
“By the next rule change in 2026, Red Bull will face more competition.”
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