Max Verstappen insists rivals Mercedes and Ferrari have narrowed the gap to Red Bull this season

Max Verstappen believes Ferrari and Mercedes have improved enough to close the gap to Red Bull in the lead-up to the 2023 F1 season.

Red Bull overcame reliability issues at the start of 2022 to claw its way to both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships with 17 race wins in 2022.

Such was the magnitude of Verstappen’s dominance that the Dutchman won 15 races to set a new single-season record for the most points scored by a driver in a single campaign.

Ferrari For the first time in years the actual title appeared as Aspirations. Meanwhile, Mercedes were mired in mediocrity with the W13 for most of 2022 as they finished second and third in the standings respectively.

Max Verstappen reckons the title fight will not be as early this time as Ferrari and Mercedes Have worked hard in the off-season on their challengers for the campaign.

When asked about Ferrari’s prospects during a press conference ahead of the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP, ​​where Sportskeeda was also present, the two-time world champion said:

“At Ferrari they have focused a lot on being quicker on the straights, but yes, because of that you lose out in the corners. So time will tell what was the right decision. Obviously, you want to be quicker on the straights, but You still have to have enough grip on one corner. You always have to try to find some balance.”

The 25-year-old believes that both Ferrari and Mercedes have worked on engine reliability, and this could go a long way to improve their chances and even make their Red Bull debut . He added:

“Everyone should work on engine reliability. We are doing well. Ferrari had to downsize the engine a lot last year, and I think Mercedes found something too. So, I think the others have made some progress in this area.” Maybe even more than us in terms of pure power, but in the end most of the performance comes from the single-seater.”

Max Verstappen is bullish on the RB19’s chances to repeat the success of its predecessor

Max Verstappen was relatively confident about his and Red Bull’s chances with the RB19 in 2023 after a dominant performance from its predecessor, the RB18.

Verstappen is expected to continue to perform at this high level after a record-breaking season that saw Red Bull catapult to their first Constructors’ crown since 2013, which saw them win their second Drivers’ World Championship title.

Heading to pre-season testing in Bahrain ahead of the first race in 2023, the double-world champion is optimistic about what he can achieve without getting too far.

In a press release issued by red Bull, max verstappen Said:

“I am feeling good and relaxed going into the 2023 season. I had a good break and prepared well this year. Time for testing is very limited so hopefully we have a few solid days without too many issues, It is important to have a smooth session.” ,

The Dutchman continued:

“The team has worked hard over the winter and I hope the RB19 is another good car to challenge with going forward, but time will tell.”

Max Verstappen was forced to retire from last year’s Bahrain GP after serving superb wheel-to-wheel action for most of the race with Charles Leclerc.

If he wins this year’s season opener, he will be the first driver since nico rosberg To finish an F1 season in 2015-2016 and start the subsequent campaign with consecutive victories.