Verstappen's rivals hope upgrades to cars can start to reel Red Bull in at Spanish GP

Rivals Lewis Hamilton , Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso will be united in at least one ambition at Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. The hope that the biggest collection of car upgrades that will be seen this season will haul them much closer to runaway championship leader Max Verstappen. Millions of dirhams in car parts and development expertise have been thrown at car developments, with much of being carried out by teams in crisis, like Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. The rest are simply trying to keep ahead in the annual, behind-the-scenes, arms race that is every bit as intense as the championship itself. Every season the first European round marks a shift in intensity. The changes were meant to be undertaken for Imola two weeks ago, but it was cancelled after flooding. Because the parts had already been freighted to Italy they were taken on to Monaco, a hectic street track where the improvements were largely either immeasurable or irrelevant. So after six unique races (Bahrain aside) Sunday’s race becomes the moment when the championship arrives at a traditional racetrack and drivers, teams and fans finally learn the sport’s true pecking order the length of the grid. Aston Martin are hoping to cement their position as the second force for 2023, chasing Red Bull’s tail. Monte Carlo saw Alonso’s fifth podium in six races and with it the announcement of a tie-up with Honda , the current pace-setting power unit of Red Bull, from 2026 The deal will, no doubt, have created friction at the champions, who spent tens, if not hundreds of millions of dirhams setting up their own engine division after learning of Honda’s departure in 2026 only to see the Japanese company change its mind after they linked up with Ford. As long as the winning continues, both sides should be able to keep their frustration under wraps just for now. But Barcelona has become job-threateningly crucial for underperforming designers at grandee teams Mercedes and Ferrari. Mercedes are bringing updates for almost every part of their unloved W14. Given these updates are hoped to be the first shoots of a Silver Arrows revival in 2024, the team management will be looking at the time sheets with particular interest. Boss and shareholder Toto Wolff, architect of so much success, could even come under pressure himself unless things change. Hamilton is out of contract at the end of the year and doubtless pondering his chances, short or long-term, of a record eighth title with a team in which wins, let alone titles, are in very short supply. His six wins in Spain already feel like a story from a different age even though the last was just two years ago. A single podium while Verstappen and Sergio Perez have won every round is a measure of the cavernous difference between the teams. Verstappen, already fostering a 39 point lead, won in Spain last year and scored his first F1 win on his Red Bull debut in 2016 when Hamilton collided with his teammate duelling over the lead. And there’s the rub. The circuit has long been a part of the world championship and, for decades, a key pre-season testing venue at which drivers have flogged around endlessly learning all its foibles. More than any other circuit, every grid place, every tenth of a second will be hard won. Margins will be infinitesimal, even by F1 standards. Red Bull aside there will be just hundreds if not thousandths of a second between some grid slots. Significantly the scruffy unpopular chicane into the final hairpin has been axed. Lap times will be significantly faster and overtaking chances on the pit straight improved. Ferrari bucked the trend of taking their key upgrades to Monaco (perhaps not wanting to show their hand too soon) with all eyes on Barcelona. New boss Frederic Vasseur will be hoping they mark a significant upswing after the disastrous start to his stewardship. If they don’t work, the pressure on him will continue to grow, especially after a daft strategy bluff with Alpine and then a pit wall communications blunder that cost Carlos Sainz dearly. These are exactly the issues Vasseur was bought in to eradicate and cost the previous incumbent, Mattia Binotto, his job One podium in 12 team starts is clearly catastrophic for such a big name with it being 11 months and counting since Maranello’s last win. While 41-year-old Alonso heads to his beloved Catalunya on a high; the only man on the grid to have raced, and won, on this layout way back in 2006. An omen perhaps?

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