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I honestly think that between the aero sliding scale, the resurgent Mercedes towards the end of the season and a good baseline Ferrari, we could have a tight championship between them and RedBull. But who do you think can win the championship, and why?
As a ferrari fan i am obviously going to go for Ferrari, why......... new TL, new season, and obviously going to ace race strateges this season LOL i know biased........ But got that out the way.... now to what my head thinks...
2nd ( So first lol ) i have to go with Merc, i cant see them coming into next year with the problems they have had last year with the car, i think alot of important lessons have been learnt, LH will be back on top form from the start with a title to win.
On the assumption Redbulls wind tunnel penalty actually harms them of course, i expect Redbull to start strong and fade as the season progresses ( as the penalty starts to take affect ) with Merc eventually winning.
I'm going for Red Bull because the rb18 needs the least amount of modifications if any at all compared to the red and silver teams to make it legal with the 2023 regulations. Even with there cut aero time this chassis advantage will help them significantly going forward in to 2023. The Merc needs a whole new floor and probably sidepods that can act as bargeboards not to mention a whole upgrade to the suspension system as well. Ferrari have new management which will make them null and void in addition to figuring out how they can get rid of the porpoising which they still had at the end of the season. Red Bull just have to roll out a lightweight RB18 and they will win the 2023 championship.
Is this almost more of a who do you want to win the Constructors - we have no evidence other than continued techincal superiority that is baked into the top teams over several years.
I would like to see one of the lower performing teams find a 'double diffuser' or 'F Duct' kind of advantage but with such restriction in the rules it will be the status quo.
To the credit of FIA, the regulations seems to have been written quite tight and they are also willing to fix any loopholes as soon as they see it, with the exception of dilly dollyiing of porpoising metrics. Not sure if it was because Brawn was there at Liberty. I doubt to see anyone turning up with a large loop hole like double diffuser and that too in the second year of the regulations. Everyone has put their theoretical best design forward in the first year. With the exception of Mercedes, who might be experimenting on a new direction, most teams would move forward in refining their current designs and address significant performance areas that they have understood through the season. As this is just the second season, most teams would find large gains if the understanding of their own concepts is good and have got the right data through the season. In a budget restricted era, i don't think anyone can create a completely new concept.
Is this almost more of a who do you want to win the Constructors - we have no evidence other than continued techincal superiority that is baked into the top teams over several years.
We can still speculate and try to make educated guesses based on the progress teams made in '22 and how we think their concept is suited to the changes in regulations for '23. Also what the impact of Red Bull's penalty regarding CFD/windtunnel time might be. Most importantly, what else are we supposed to do till we see pictures of the '23 cars
Is this almost more of a who do you want to win the Constructors - we have no evidence other than continued techincal superiority that is baked into the top teams over several years.
We can still speculate and try to make educated guesses based on the progress teams made in '22 and how we think their concept is suited to the changes in regulations for '23. Also what the impact of Red Bull's penalty regarding CFD/windtunnel time might be. Most importantly, what else are we supposed to do till we see pictures of the '23 cars
Of course - I voted Just seems that I a being grumpy as I want to see the new cars and get a proper feel for how the new regs and tunnel time might have influenced any improvements from back to front