Can’t blame them. It’s hard to imagine the other teams making such massive strides that they would put RB’s championship at risk. Even if it means they lose a few races at the end of the season, they’re still going to win both championships
Hopefully this combined with powertrain penalties later in the season will result in some more competitive races for 1st.
I’m afraid that’s not going to change anything. The downside of the budget cap is that other teams can’t spend enough to catch up to the team that got it right. Red Bull being able to shift their focus to next year this early on just means that the budget penalty for winning doesn’t effect them. Where others have to spend on upgrades to stay competitive in this year, they just get a chunk of money to spend outside of the 2024 budget.
By the time the other teams have caught up, FIA will have changed the rules again and the cycle starts over.
Long term I agree, however I disagree in the short term (later part of this season).
The midfield teams are far from being done bringing upgrades, so the gap to RB will lessen. Plus in the fact that the pool of available engine/gearbox/ERS components is shrinking will force Max to start well out of position.
Maybe teams won’t be able to consistently challenge for 1st, but I think the right circumstances to be competitive later this season is on the horizon.
Apart from being the fastest car, the RB is also one of the most reliable. A few races ago Max used the least engine parts of anybody.
Edit: turns out that it’s actually pretty equal, apart from Perez, Gasly and Hulkenberg.
. Perez is making RB look bad actually.
