Red Bull upgrades postponed by budget cap penalty as Ferrari plan offensive strategy

The budget cap penalty seems to be working as Red Bull have revealed their affected upgrade strategy for the upcoming season. At the same time, Ferrari, who have not been as good as RB in pre-season testing are looking to capitalize on the same.

Formula 1 will get going within a week in Bahrain for the kick-off of the 2023 season. The pre-season testing on the same track revealed that Red Bull had set the benchmark of the performance with Ferrari following them up closely.

However, the Italy-based outfit has a much more tremendous development plan than RB because of the budget cap penalty stopping them from using the wind tunnel completely.

Dr. Helmut Marko spoke about the same as Motorsport-Magazin.com quoted him as saying:

"We have to economize, both with the budget cap and with the wind tunnel times. There is no room for experimentation or risk."

After Red Bull was found to have breached the budget cap in 2021, they were rewarded with a financial penalty. Along with that, their wind tunnel time was reduced by 10% for the upcoming season.

As the team on the top of the standings already gets the least amount of wind tunnel time, it will be crucial for them to manage their development programs in the 2023 season.

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Ferrari looking to upgrade more ferociously than Red Bull

Ferrari have been under the leadership of Fred Vasseur since Mattia Binotto resigned from the team. Vasseur revealed that the 2023 car has been in development for quite some time. However, it will still be a little hard for them to dominate from the very start of the season.

The Frenchman also revealed that the team has planned upgrade packages for Jeddah (Saudi Arabian GP) and Melbourne (Australian GP) and said:

"Not for next week, that would be too short notice. But we have planned updates for Jeddah and Melbourne if we can make it. It's no secret."

While Mercedes is still trying to recover from the 2022 season, Ferrari and Red Bull will perhaps go head-to-head one more time at the start of the season. However, the W14 might develop enough to pose a challenge to the teams on top later into the season. It is for this reason that 2023 might see a three-way challenge to the top.