‘Revolution’ in F1 in a key weekend for what is to come

Imola tests Max Verstappen and Red Bull. This weekend is absolutely key for the aspirations of their pursuers. Red Bull surrendered in Miami in a surprising way against a McLaren that was ahead of everyone with a package of improvements that gave great results and debuted Lando Norris’ first victory. In this way, we arrive at the Emilia-Romagna GP, on the historic route of Enzo and Dino Ferrari, with more uncertainty than ever in these last two campaigns. The incomparable Red Bull showed in Miami that it can be down to earth and have a different atmosphere in the paddock. Not everything is regretted and not repeated “it doesn’t matter, if Verstappen wins.” After crushing everything for the past two years, the first moment of doubt seems to have occurred.

Can McLaren with Verstappen at Imola? For now, those in orange prefer to keep a low profile, although they are not hiding the step forward that the update showed two weeks ago. And Carlos Sainz warned the Spanish press, with MD: “I think the evolution of McLaren is very good in Miami and from what I hear, I think they will also be very fast in Imola.”

However, the question is whether the track conditions in Miami made the image seen there disproportionate. And on the American track, Red Bull’s greatest strength was lost because there was no tire wear. In Imola, the damage was not so great, but it was bigger than in Miami. Can McLaren repeat? Doing so would mean a huge blow to the table and mean that there would finally be a fight.

New and exciting Ferrari car

Here we must add that Ferrari will present its first main package of evolutions of the season. A few kilometers from its headquarters, the Italian company wants to take the step it needs to get closer to Red Bull and McLaren and perhaps fight for more wins on more tracks.

However, as McLaren do, both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz preferred to stay calm and wait.

“The evolution will not give us four tenths of an improvement per lap. The car is new and the team has made a brutal effort to bring a new car, but the marginal gains we have now in F1 when the rules are so tight… I don’t think anyone can carry four-tenths on a circuit.”

Of course, Carlos did not hide that the Red Bull seems to be more achievable on different types of tracks, although it is still the dominant car. “I hope there are more circuits where we are more competitive like in Australia. In Miami it’s the Australian McLaren we have, but I think in the middle of the season the Red Bull is the car to beat at all the circuits. Then there will be McLaren circuits, Ferrari circuits, where we can show our noses a little, but Red Bull is still the team to beat,” added the Madrid native about what could come.

Of course, at Red Bull, they don’t expect idly either. Helmut Marko, adviser to the Milton Keynes team, made it clear that Max and ‘Checo’ will also make improvements and he expects “a lot from them”. Notice to sailors.

Alonso, step by step and a new improvement

For his part, Fernando Alonso is very satisfied with the effort and progress that Aston Martin is making, bringing new components to each race and a car that is better compared to last year’s lap time, although it will not be reflected in the results because of the best work done by the “top 4 teams”.

This weekend, Aston Martin got a nice update, with a new nose already visible in the pit lane and, apparently, new sidepods. But Alonso took the iron from him. “It is less than what was published. I think it will be a good step, but it is a good step in Bahrain, it is a good step in Jeddah, in Australia, and in Japan, and a little in Miami. So basically every race we bring new parts this year and it’s no different here at Imola. And we will have more improvements in Monaco next week. So long race until at the end of the year,” he concluded. The track dictates its sentence starting this Friday, with the start of free practice for the Emilia-Romagna GP.