Red Bull aims to cut back 'free lap time' disadvantage as focus shifts to 2023 F1 car

After winning both world championships in 2022, Red Bull is gearing up for the next season with the aim to continue their domination. While most teams struggled with porpoising issues this year, the Austrian outfit faced problems regarding the weight of RB18.

Pierre Wache, Technical Director at Red Bull, explained what the team focused on in the 2022 F1 season and how they will be working to create a new 2023 challenger to beat their rivals. Explaining how they lost out on 'free lap time' that they can gain next year, he told RacingNews365:

“This year, the updates focused mainly on the weight, but also on the aerodynamic performance of the RB18. In any case, the car is still substantially too heavy. We can still improve on that next year. The other teams are much closer to the limit, so that's a lot of 'free lap time' as we would call it."

Wache further revealed how Red Bull was unable to focus on reducing the weight of RB18 due to their intense fight with Mercedes for both titles. The technical director of the team even explained how weight reduction in different areas of the car can have a different impact on their performance. He added:

"The fact that we didn't put enough resources into the car, and also maybe our interpretation of some of the new FIA tests affected us more than some of other teams such as the load on the chassis. It was close to 20 kilos at the beginning of the season."

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Max Verstappen reflects on Red Bull's dominance in 2022 F1 season

Red Bull and Max Verstappen dominated the 2022 F1 season by winning both the drivers' and constructors' championships. While speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the Dutchman summed up the season, expressing his delight and acknowledging the effort put in by the team. He said:

"It has been a great team effort, especially after our tough start to the year, to turn it around like that, I would have never imagined that, like nobody in the team. But it's been really enjoyable to be part of this team."

Though he understands that further improving the performance will be quite difficult as Red Bull is already the strongest team on the grid, he is still hopeful for next season. He further added:

"We have a lot of fun. Of course, we focus on the performance but you also need to really enjoy the moment, appreciate the moment. And I think we definitely did that. We will do but we already also focusing on next year. You always say you try to do better. I know it's hard to do a lot better than this but you should always try to aim for that."

With 15 wins in 2022, Max Verstappen broke the record for most Grand Prix wins in a single season. He is already considered among the greats of the sport since he now holds two world championships at the age of 25.