Red Bull chief reveals main THREAT to F1 clean sweep

Max Verstappen after his win in Austria — Photo: © LAT Images

Dutch Grand Prix

Red Bull chief reveals main THREAT to F1 clean sweep

Red Bull's chief engineer has shared his thoughts on what could stop Max Verstappen this season

Anna Malyon

Saturday 26 August 2023 08:27

Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan has responded to comments about Red Bull's dominance, claiming it is too 'premature' to assume they will dominate Formula 1 until the regulations change.

Red Bull currently sit first in the constructors’ championship after dominating the first half of the 2023 F1 season, taking victory in every race so far.

However, Monaghan has claimed there are many unpredictable factors that could occur which could end their winning streak, including the usual chaos at turn 1, despite speculation they will win every race this season.

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“Many things affect us, look at turn one, are we going to come through there cleanly every race? Who knows,” he said speaking to Formula 1 at the Dutch Grand Prix.

“We will approach each race as an individual challenge and our goals are championships at the end of the season. We’ll just do our best at every race, as will Max [Verstappen], as will Checo [Perez], and we will see where we end up."

A Red Bull clean sweep?

Speaking to media in Zandvoort, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc claimed it would be 'very, very difficult' to catch Red Bull until the regulations change in 2026.

“That’s what we are trying to work towards,” he said. “But for sure they have a really big margin and it’s going to be very, very difficult to catch them before the next change of regulations.

“So we’ll be pushing for that but we’re not going to put any huge expectations upon next year. We will take it race by race, making sure we have got all of the right information to make the best decisions possible between now and the Bahrain test next year.”

Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez

Monaghan responded to Leclerc’s comments, suggesting it is too early to assume that nothing will change over the next three years.

“To say that we are not going to be caught. Well, we don’t need to come then for a couple of years then do we,” he added.

“So, we will come every week and who knows what is going to happen and if the others make more strides than us over the winter and during the following season, we’re open to being shot at aren’t we, we’re the target.

“Let’s see how we get on. I think it’s a little premature on Charles’ part. Time will tell."

Verstappen is on track to equal Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive race wins, however we are yet to see if he will be able to tackle turn one this weekend and put Monaghan's fears to one side.