Which F1 team is best placed to challenge Red Bull this season?

According to F1 journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm, Red Bull could face its stiffest challenge this season not from traditional rivals like Mercedes and Ferrari but from 2023's surprise package Aston Martin.

Red Bull have come out of the traps flying in 2023 with a 100% win record after three rounds of racing this season. While they look to be a shoo-in for both world championships as we approach the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP, the biggest question that hangs in the air is who might emerge as their biggest on-track rival.

Ferrari are already struggling with the reliability of the SF23, and Mercedes have admitted to getting their car concept wrong with the W14. However, Aston Martin appear to have hit the target with the development direction they took with the AMR23, and Team Silverstone could still have more tricks up their sleeves.

When asked to single out a team that was best placed to take the fight to Red Bull this season on the latest episode of The Race's F1 podcast, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm picked Aston Martin. He said:

"One thing I would say about Aston Martin right now is when the aerodynamic testing restriction handicap system was devised, it was done with a long-term impact in mind whereby you would gradually bring up the back-marker or lower midfield teams or peg back the bigger teams, however you want to view it."

Mitchell-Malm added:

"Therefore, over time, you would allow teams that have performed worst to slowly catch up to teams that are just having a ceiling imposed on them in terms of development and performance."

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Aston Martin's 'development capacity' could be major factor in fight against Red Bull, according to F1 journalist

Aston Martin having additional developmental scope and capacity could be a major factor in the battle against Red Bull in the ongoing 2023 F1 season, according to F1 journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm.

In the aforementioned episode of The Race's F1 podcast, Mitchell-Malm explained how finishing seventh in the standings played into Aston Martin's head. This is doubly significant considering that Red Bull have the least amount of ATR allocation on the grid on account of being defending champions and for being penalized for breaching F1's cost cap in 2021.

Mitchell-Malm said:

"When that was devised, no one ever imagined that a team that would finish seventh in the championship one year and therefore have a 100% of the base-line ATR allocation (wind tunnel time and CFD items), would suddenly be the second-best team on balance at the start of the next season. So, these things only work in six-month cycles."

The journalist added:

"If this is how it stands at the end of June, then Aston Martin will have a much reduced ATR allowance. But as it stands right now, in April, Aston Martin have got a huge amount more development capacity than Red Bull does."

Aston Martin have already managed to amass more points in three races in 2023 than they did in the entirety of 2022. They could be on track to have the best season yet in the history of Team Silverstone.

Will that be enough to upend Christian Horner and his Red Bull juggernaut in the standings when all is said and done? Only time will tell.