Both Red Bull and Ferrari appear to have been more successful than their rivals in choosing their car concepts at the start of this new technical era in 2022. In both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, both teams were in the top four positions for almost the entire race. race, far ahead of his closest pursuers.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc staged great duels for victory in both races. The Monegasque Ferrari won the first battle in Bahrain, in Dutch he did the same in Jeddah.
“It was very exciting, wasn’t it? The performance of our car and Ferrari seemed to be identical,” Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey said after the Saudi GP.
Verstappen said his season had started after his win in Jeddah, as both he and teammate Sergio Perez retired in Bahrain with technical problems with just a few laps to go in the race.
After these results, Red Bull is already far behind Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, however, there are still 21 races to go:
“Our season has finally started after last weekend’s disappointment, it’s been positive to hit back,” added Adrian Newey .
Due to the nature of the new technical regulations, the development of Formula 1 cars will be key in 2022 and of course Newey reckons that this will be one of the key factors in the battle for wins and eventually titles as well.
“There seems to be so little difference between the two of us that I think it’s going to be an incredible development war. However, it’s also a war that we have to fight with our hands tied behind our backs because of the budget cap.”
“At the same time, this cost cap will also mean that the way we work to develop and introduce updates to the car will be different to what we did previously.”
“With the budget cap, we have to be much more focused on what we’re going to bring to the track, we can’t fail. Which makes it a different challenge, but just as interesting,” Newey concluded.
