Red Bull exhibited crushing pace in the European Grand Prix which prompted speculation they were about to return to their dominance of 2011. The pole positions statistics back this up as the two teams took eight each, though McLaren lost one due to a penalty in Spain and Red Bull picked one up for the same reason in Monaco. If we average out the teams’ performance across the entire season McLaren emerge as the quickest team ahead of Red Bull (see table). Instead they fell back into the clutches of Marussia, who they were involved in a fight for tenth in the championship with until the final race. Eight races in it looked as though Caterham were finally going to catch the midfield. The cars at the tail of the field were generally closer to the pace this year. Throughout the season there were often six teams covered by 1% on lap time – last year there was usually only three. While Red Bull felt the effect of the changes most strongly, it had consequences for every team in the pit lane. Last year they were the quickest team at 18 out of 19 race weekends (94.7%), this year that fell to 7 out of 20 (35%). It was said from the beginning of the season that the restrictions on exhaust-blowing would hit Adrian Newey’s cars hardest, and here is the proof. The safety car was called out because Yuki Tsunoda slid into the wall, leaving behind a tire and debris from his AlphaTauri.One point leaps out immediately when comparing this graph with the same data for last year: Red Bull got slower. Red Bull has won all three grands prix, with Verstappen winning the opener in Bahrain and then in Australia, after Pérez came first in Saudi Arabia. “We deserve much more points than what I have now in the championship.” “One thing for sure, it shows how bad the first three races were,” he said. Leclerc more than doubled his points tally for the season to 13 after two retirements and a seventh-place finish from the first three races. Leclerc held on to second, as Verstappen closed in on the final lap, to give Ferrari its first top-three finish of 2023 following a dismal start to the season. The Mexican driver cruised to the win, which cuts his deficit to leader Verstappen in the standings by two points to 13. Leclerc started on pole - as he will for the grand prix on Sunday - but was overtaken by Pérez just before the halfway point of the 17-lap sprint on the long seafront straight.
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