Getting Technical Regulations Wrong Leaves Teams ‘Always’ Playing Catch up – Verstappen

Max Verstappen says the results of 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season proved that if a team can get their interpretations of the technical regulations correct then success will come, and those that did not will always be playing catch up.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing team were one of the few teams to get their car right during the 2022 season, and they were rewarded by taking seventeen of the twenty-two victories available, fifteen of which went the way of the Dutchman as he claimed his second World Drivers’ Championship.

Verstappen says the time it took Red Bull to catch up with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in the years up to the regulation change of last year highlights the need to be on top of their game quickly, but those teams that struggled in 2022 are still likely to be trying to catch up with their development in 2023.

“You see this when the regulations change and some teams hit it spot on,” said Verstappen to Viaplay, as quoted by RacingNews365.com.  “Once you hit it spot on and you know what you are doing, you more or less work from there and you make small steps [forward].

“But when you get it wrong, you really have to reinvent and try again and you’re always behind and then you have to try and catch up. You saw that with us in that it took a few years [to challenge Mercedes].

“We didn’t have a good engine but once we had that sorted out, we worked on the car and once you bring all that together, you are finally more or less there, but it took us a few years.

“Maybe with these regulations, it is less complex but you are still on the backfoot and you need to catch up. But while they tried to catch up, we’re also trying to improve, so that’s what we have to try and keep doing and hopefully show that again [in 2023].”