Red Bull Racing - F1 Constructors World Champions 2023

Written by Owen Bradley

Credit: Red Bull Racing Socials

Red Bull have had an absolutely phenomenal season in 2023, winning 15 out of the 16 races, and Verstappen taking 13 of those victories. Red Bull Racing have looked unstoppable this season, as they broke record after record, race after race. This is how Red Bull became World Constructors Champions in 2023.

How Red Bull Became Constructors World Champions in 2023:

Round 1 - Bahrain

The 2023 season began with many people talking about the "first race curse" which has happened in the past, where the winner of the first race goes on to lose the championship. This happened to Charles Leclerc in 2022, Lewis Hamilton in 2021, Valtteri Bottas in 2020, Valtteri Bottas again in 2019 and finally, Sebastian Vettel in 2018 and 2017.

However, this curse was immediately broken by Max Verstappen, who won the first race of the season, and has now scored nearly double the points of Sergio Perez, who is in P2 in the standings and has a deficit of 177 points to Verstappen as of the end of the Japanese GP. It was an absolutely dominant display, a 1-2 finish for Verstappen and Perez, and a sign of things to come for the Milton Keynes based team.

Credit: Red Bull Racing Social Media

Round 2 - Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia was one of Sergio Perez' celebrations, a race which he largely dominated, with the only threat coming from teammate Verstappen, who started from 15th after a driveshaft failure, fighting back through the field and showing everybody just exactly what that engine could do, and finishing an extraordinary P2, just a few seconds down the road from Perez himself. It was another 1-2 finish for Red Bull, who at this stage, already looked threatening.

Round 3 - Australia

Australia was the first sign of weakness. Whilst Verstappen absolutely dominated once again, Sergio Perez actually ended up finishing in P5, off the podium and disappointed. Perez didn't make it out of Q1 after a crash in the session, meaning that his comeback was quite difficult, and was only able to just about recover to a Top 5. Whilst this opened up another podium spot, it was nothing but an anomaly, a mistake from one of their drivers. Nevertheless, it also confirmed that the Red Bull can certainly make a comeback to the top positions, even if starting from so far back, it was the second time within three races, that a Red Bull had to make a comeback.

Round 4 - Azerbaijan

Baku was a sprint weekend that had a lot of spicy battles on the table. Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel against George Russell, who ended up clattering over a kerb and running into Verstappen's sidepod, putting a whole in the side of the car and rendering it almost undriveable. However, Verstappen ended up finishing in P3 despite these issues. Come race day, plain and simple - Sergio Perez had the pace, and ended up beating Verstappen convincingly. It became apparent, that Perez might be starting to properly mount a championship battle. It was back to 1-2 finishes for Red Bull in Azerbaijan.

Credit: Michael Potts

Round 5 - Miami

Miami was a fairly uneventful race, with Verstappen and Perez streaking off into the distance, by over 25 seconds to the next car, Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin. Whilst many of the top teams were struggling to catch up or had other issues like strategy, Red Bull had 4 one-two finishes within the first 5 races, something which they weren't quite expecting to do, so early in the season. However, it was clear just how much they had learned from the 2022 championship, where they struggled for car performance early on in that season.

Round 6 - Monaco

The most historic, classic and famous race on the F1 calendar, was one that didn't disappoint, at least not for Red Bull fans. Max Verstappen had an incredible weekend, dominating most of the sessions and securing pole position, going on to take the victory by over 27 seconds. Sergio Perez however, had another terrible weekend. Perez crashed in Q1 and didn't make it out of the session. Unfortunately, with Monaco being so tough to overtake at, Perez just simply wasn't able to make any progress through the field, despite the car being extremely fast, especially and historically, Red Bull always have been at Monaco. It was more Verstappen domination, as he extended his lead to Sergio Perez in the Driver's Standings.

Round 7 - Spain

It was more of the same for both the Red Bull drivers in Spain. Verstappen once again dominated, taking another victory by around 25 seconds. As for Sergio Perez, he Qualified in P11, another disappointing qualifying performance which sabotaged his potential race, as he went on to finish in P5. Catalunya is a circuit that can be extremely difficult to overtake at, but this was yet another mistake from Perez, and many started to call in to question, if Perez would actually be able to take Verstappen on in a championship.

Credit: Michael Potts

Round 8 - Canada

What was a few anomalies, had become too frequent over the last few races, and this further continued for Sergio Perez, who struggled to qualify in the changing weather conditions, and once again ended up outside the Top 10, qualifying in P12. Verstappen ended up dominating once again, as Perez was forced to play catch-up again. Perez ended up finishing in P6, but with something to clearly focus on, his qualifying pace.

Round 9 - Austria

Perez returned to the podium! After a disappointing number of races, Perez struck back in Austria, at Red Bull's home circuit - the Red Bull Ring. A circuit which allowed the Red Bull cars to show off their engine speed, as the Red Bull Ring is built with a lot of straights and fast corners, in fact, the circuit is so fast, it is just over one minute long - being therefore the shortest circuit on the entire calendar. Perez finished in P3, finally getting his return to the podium. However it was Verstappen who absolutely obliterated the field, taking another historic victory for Red Bull, at their home circuit.

Round 10 - Britain

Silverstone is a circuit which has been quite a cruel one to Red Bull in the past, but like many curses they were breaking in 2023, this was another that got broken. Verstappen won the race, the first time he has actually won a British Grand Prix, and the second time he has won a Grand Prix at Silverstone. However, yet again, Sergio Perez had a terrible qualifying, ending up starting from P16. He did manage to recover to P6, but once again the parallels to his teammate, who was on a massive win streak, were striking. Red Bull, continued to dominate - 10 out of 10 victories.

Credit: Michael Potts

Round 11 - Hungary

The Hungaroring is typically known as "Monaco without the barriers" and with Max Verstappen taking victory at Monaco, well. The writing was on the wall, coming into the weekend. However, to the surprise of everybody, it was Red Bull's top rival, Lewis Hamilton, who managed to secure a fantastic pole position. He did so by just 0.003s of a second. During the race however, Verstappen would quickly fly past Hamilton and take the lead of the race. Verstappen went on to take victory by 33 seconds, a huge lead which proved that not only do Red Bull have the straight line speed, they also have the aerodynamics and chassis to perform at the highest level on the street circuits, or circuits which require more downforce, like Hungary. Sergio Perez managed to get a podium, a P3 finish whilst battling the Brits of Hamilton and Norris.

Round 12 - Belgium

Spa-Francorchamps, another jewel in the F1 crown. Tricky conditions in qualifying, as some drivers tried to risk a slick tyre on the drying track in Q2, like Lance Stroll, who crashed out at no-name corner, a mid-speed left-hander. With tricky wet weather conditions, it was Verstappen who once again shone through the mist and rain, taking pole position. It was a Sprint weekend as well, and where Verstappen did have a lot of pace, he lost some positions, because in the sprint - the race began under safety car, but the track had dried out, meaning that with the field bunched, you would lose so much time in the pit lane, as Red Bull's pit box is at the start of the pit lane. Therefore, Verstappen was forced to stay out and drive a lap, knowing that he's going to be losing a lot of time. Eventually once Verstappen came out and began catching the leader, a Safety Car was brought out because Alonso had crashed. Verstappen was able to cruise right up to the back of Piastri, and eventually overtook him and led the sprint race, and went on to take victory. Perez on the other hand, was forced to retire after a collision with Lewis Hamilton, which put a whole in the side of his car, much like Russell did to Verstappen in Azerbaijan.

Come race day, nobody could stop Verstappen this time, as he went on to take another glorious victory. Perez on the other hand, managed to jump from P3, to P2 in the race, and this managed to secure the team yet another 1-2 finish. Verstappen at this point, had managed to get to 8 Consecutive victories, with the record being 9 Consecutive victories, held by Sebastian Vettel from the 2013 season.

Credit: Jakub Porzycki

Round 13 - Dutch Grand Prix

Max Verstappen's home race, at Zandvoort. Trying to match the record for consecutive victories in a single season, what better way to do it, than at home. A chaotic Grand Prix with mixed conditions, a very tough race to stay on the track, it provided us with a lot of action and entertainment, but once again, proving that he has the ability to win in multiple different ways, different conditions and different circumstances, Verstappen drove a calm and controlled race amongst all the chaos and Safety Cars and a Red Flag. Verstappen came home to win his home race, for the third time in a row and matched Sebastian Vettel's Consecutive Victory record, a truly exceptional result, within 13 races and the team also maintaining the 100% Red Bull victory record, 13 wins from 13 races.

Round 14 - Italy

A race which was always going to be more difficult, as this is perhaps the easiest circuit on the calendar, was also a race which Red Bull flourished at, despite not getting pole position. Sainz was able to hold Verstappen off for a number of laps, as Verstappen nearly repeated his accident with Hamilton from 2021. However, once Verstappen got through, he shot off into the distance. Perez managed to battle through the field, particularly having trouble with Russell, but eventually managed to get to P2. He mysteriously began catching Verstappen in the closing few laps, which caused a lot of intrigue. It was revealed, Verstappen began having engine problems in the closing laps, was this a small dent in the armour?

Round 15 - Singapore

Almost instantly, as soon as Red Bull arrived to Marina Bay, something was wrong in paradise. Verstappen was complaining of a lot of sliding and understeer. But when we got to Qualifying, and Verstappen ended up P11, everybody knew something was wrong. Perez ended up qualifying in P13, so there was really not much to separate the two, which may also suggest there was not much to actually extract from the car in terms of pace. Come race day, the pair struggled a lot, with some unfortunately timed Safety Cars, they lost a lot of time.

However, they both managed to recover to the points, with Verstappen making it to P5 and Perez ending up in P8. It was clear, the front axel was not turning in sharp enough, giving them so much understeer. with understeer, this also led to them not being able to accelerate at cleanly out of a corner. sliding through the corners, understeering on the way in, it looked like they had put a low drag setup on the car. A weekend to forget perhaps, but certainly a weekend to learn from.

Round 16 - Japan

Credit: Qian Jun

Returning one week later with a vengeance, Verstappen immediately set the attitude in Practice, going 1.8 seconds quicker than anybody else. Verstappen went on to dominate qualifying, with P2 on the grid having a lap time that was nearly six tenths slower than Verstappen. Perez however, was seven tenths off the pace, and would start from P5. It truly was one of the best qualifying laps of the season, and perhaps one of the best laps of all time.

Verstappen ended up dominating the Japanese Grand Prix, but Perez was forced to retire the car due to contact with Kevin Magnussen. As Verstappen rounded the final corner, he came across the line to make it 13 victories for him in 2023, 15 victories out of 16 for Red Bull, and the World Constructors Championship in Japan.

Verstappen's Dominance

There is simply no question about it, 28 Victories across the 2022 and 2023 seasons up to this point. Red Bull with over 30 wins across those seasons as well, these last two years have been an incredibly dominant period for Red Bull. Max Verstappen has responded to the critics and the people that hate him, with absolute supremacy. Of course with help from the rest of the team, this has been possible. However there is no doubt that Max Verstappen is the modern Michael Schumacher, the modern Ayrton Senna or Sebastian Vettel.

Credit: Mark Peterson

Verstappen is a controversial figure in the sport, but at the time so was Senna, so was Vettel. In amongst all the hatred for Verstappen, there is also a complete adoration for him as well, only to the the top figures in the sport does this happen, to be so loved and also so hated. Lewis Hamilton has had this, as has Senna, Vettel, Prost, Lauda, Hunt and so many others. But for those that consistently say it's all about the car, well there's a reason why Verstappen has got 13 wins so far in 2023, and Teammate Sergio Perez only has 2.

It is only a matter of time before he is crowned a triple champion, and I think we will be talking about him becoming a four-time champion next season too, and the season after that as well. Teams may catch up and close the gap, but even in a competitive championship battle like 2010, with 4 drivers able to win the championship in the final race, still, the greatest drivers prevail.

Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey's extraordinary design on these cars are what has carried this team through to take an absolutely emphatic number of victories. A team which have now managed to secure 6 Constructors World Championships, and a designer who has now designed 13 Championship-Winning cars. Adrian Newey is most certainly the genius behind the car, but the engineers and the team members also play such a huge role in understanding his work, when he isn't at the track himself.

Credit: Dan Isitene

Newey is the crown jewel of the team, and it is clear to see that they are trying to bring through the next level of engineers just like him, and if Red Bull can expand not just their driver pool, and driver academy, but if they can expand their entire team and the team's knowledge of how to design cars like Adrian Newey, then the team can self-sustain itself for future generations to come.

Hannah Schmitz

Hannah Schmitz is one of the more secret geniuses behind the success of Red Bull, she is the Principal Strategy Engineer. When it comes to those hard decisions, like in the Belgian Sprint race, where Verstappen was leading, but decided not to box and get caught up in the pit lane chaos - those decisions are critical, they aren't decided through a coin toss.

Not only that, but one could certainly argue that Schmitz is one of Adrian Newey's protege's, a younger person on the strategy side of the team that can help carry the team forward in Newey's absence perhaps. One thing is certain, Ferrari and Mercedes will be approaching Schmitz over the next few years, if they haven't already done so.

Christian Horner

The Man that helped build everything you see in Red Bull Racing today. I have it on record, that Christian Horner is a Team Principal that not only leads the team, but truly does work with the team. He isn't some higher-up corporate boss, and does actually work closely with each member of the team. Horner came into Red Bull with the team in shambles, and within the next few years, won the championship with Sebastian Vettel.

A decade on from that success, and a few years of both personal and professional struggle in the early turbohybrid era, He continued with the team and has not abandoned them. Horner is somebody that hasn't just been a team leader, he has been passionate about helping younger drivers make it through the ranks, as he has done with Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and many many others. Christian Horner is one of the most successful Team Principal's in F1 history.

Owen's Opinion

Whatever it is that the fans think about Red Bull's dominance, just know that when people rightfully adore the likes of Senna and Prost, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. All of those people had to face the same exact criticisms by fans and the media. This problem isn't unique to Verstappen or the team, however for newer fans that have come along perhaps with the help of Netflix's Drive to Survive - they may not quite realise just how perspective really does affect how we view things. If you watch the Senna documentary, then perhaps you could take a disliking to Alain Prost, thanks to his portrayal by the editors in that documentary. However if you then do research and see more interviews with Prost, then you'll realise that he is not an antagonist in a documentary film, he is a legend of Formula One.

It is important to look at what is real, what is being said and what is being done in front of our very eyes. People took a disliking to Sebastian Vettel during his dominance, but now there are fans wanting him to return to the F1 grid in some way. When people speak about how they wish they saw Ayrton Senna live and in the flesh, it may not be Senna - but those idols that we idolise, are because we see or saw something incredibly special. But we are seeing something incredibly special, right now - Don't let your own biases or favourite drivers and teams, cloud what we are seeing right now, which is a driver performing at their highest level, in a car and team performing at their highest level too.

But what do you think of Red Bull's outstanding 2023 season? - SO FAR!

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