Red Bull rivals ‘finally’ know only solution to catch them up

The penny has at last dropped for rival teams that copying Red Bull is the only way to catch them, says the team’s former driver Daniil Kvyat.

Red Bull have made a mighty start to the F1 2023 campaign in defence of their Constructors’ title, having taken all three pole positions and race victories on offer so far.

Mercedes and Ferrari had gone into the season with renewed hope of taking the fight to Red Bull, but instead the far improved Aston Martin team is their current concern while Red Bull have been powering off into the distance with the RB19s.

Red Bull have already poked a bit of fun at Aston Martin, believing the design of their AMR23, which Fernando Alonso has driven to a P3 finish at all rounds so far, bares plenty of similarities to their RB18 challenger of last season.

And now both Mercedes and Ferrari are expected to make major changes to their respective cars, which may well take them away from their unique designs and more towards the Red Bull look.

And Kvyat, who drove for Red Bull from 2015-16, feels it was about time that Red Bull’s competitors realised that imitation is the “only solution” if they are to mount a challenge to F1’s dominant force.

Asked on the Track Limits podcast if Red Bull will keep this dominance up until the 2026 regulation changes, Kvyat replied: “But now people understood that the only way to beat them is to copy their car…Finally. It’s as simple as that.

“I think they definitely this year [will stay dominant], maybe next year finally people will catch up, but this year still looks way ahead of everyone.

“Maybe towards the end of the year with development people will be able to get closer, but I still think yeah, they are obviously dominating, also Honda, the engine has been great, and they have everything they need.”

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To that point then, Kvyat feels we will need to wait until 2024 to see some stern competition for Red Bull at the front of the field again, as Mercedes and Ferrari he believes will at that point be able to really put the Red Bull-inspired changes into action.

Asked to make a prediction for the remainder of F1 2023, Kvyat said with a smile: “It’s going to be boring!

“But the next one maybe will be interesting, when Mercedes and Ferrari will step up the game, understand what pieces to copy. Then it will be probably more interesting.”

Red Bull are 58 points clear of Aston Martin at the top of the Constructors’ standings, while Max Verstappen has a 15-point buffer over team-mate Sergio Perez in the Drivers’ Championship.