Red Bull have won all 12 races of the 2023 Formula 1 season, leaving Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari and McLaren to ponder how they can launch title challenges in 2024; the season resumes at Dutch GP from August 25, live on Sky Sports F1
Monday 14 August 2023 10:40, UK
With Red Bull's relentless brilliance having left their Formula 1 rivals facing a huge task to restore parity, Sky Sports assess what each 2024 title hopeful needs to focus on for the remainder of the season.
After eight successive constructors' titles from 2014-2021, it feels as though Mercedes are still coming to terms with no longer being F1's dominant force.
They botched their first opportunity to hit back at Red Bull by sticking with a flawed design concept that they finally moved on from with a major set of upgrades that debuted at the Monaco Grand Prix in May.
Unfortunately for Mercedes, the limitations of the cost cap have prevented them from performing a complete overhaul of the W14, leaving Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to continue to deal with some of the car's unhelpful characteristics.
The Silver Arrows' main task for the remainder of the season is to ensure all of the key figures are on the same page over the direction they are moving in as development on next year's W15 gathers speed.
In a mid-term review, Mercedes technical director James Allison said that they had been "too cautious" with the design of the W14 amid fears over bouncing. There appears to be confidence that they know where the sweet spot is, but that will only be revealed come next February.
Another thing Mercedes need to sort out before 2024 is Hamilton's contract extension, which remains unconfirmed months after team principal Toto Wolff said he thought it was "days" from being done.
While a new deal does still appear to be a formality, confirmation of it will remove any lingering doubts around the team over Hamilton's commitment.
That situation hasn't distracted Hamilton on the track, with the 38-year-old delivering a hugely impressive run of form in the weeks before the summer break, but the same can't be said for his team-mate.
After a brilliant debut season with Mercedes in which he outscored Hamilton, Russell has suffered a dip in performance, and must use the remainder of the campaign to regain confidence and return to the form that had established him as one of the sport's elite young drivers.
After a stunning start to the season, which saw them rise from lower-midfield obscurity to fighting for podiums, Aston Martin's momentum has slowed as the season has gone on.
Fernando Alonso claimed six podiums in the first eight races of the season in a fairytale return to contention at the front of the grid, but the 42-year-old failed to finish inside the top four in the final four races before the summer break.
It's evident that Aston Martin designed a very strong car, with technical director Dan Fallows making an impressive impact following his arrival from Red Bull, but they have failed to take advantage of the additional wind-tunnel time they held in comparison to Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Major upgrades brought to the car at the Canadian Grand Prix in June having failed to deliver any notable advances, allowing Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren to outperform them in recent weeks.
Aston Martin's arrival at the front of the grid was ahead of schedule, but their shortcomings during the campaign have made it clear that if they are to remain among the elite, in-season development has to improve.
With the team having now moved into their new Silverstone factory, which is kitted out with a state-of-the-art wind tunnel that will be ready for use next year, there is little excuse for owner Lawrence Stroll's investment and ambition not being matched by his employees' performance.
While Stroll will undoubtedly hold those responsible to account, it remains to be seen whether he will do the same with his son, Lance, who has not delivered a level of performance befitting a team looking to compete for race wins and eventually titles.
If Aston Martin are to continue to progress, there is an argument that Alonso would be aided by a team-mate that can provide more assistance developing the car, and in taking points away from their rivals.
While Red Bull's dominance will be frustrating to just about every other team on the grid, it has surely been most galling for Ferrari.
Having matched, if not bettered Red Bull's performance in the early stages of the 2022 season, the gap that has opened up between the teams since then should be hugely alarming from a Ferrari perspective.
Given Frederic Vasseur only took over as Ferrari team principal during the off-season, blame for the SF23's lack of performance cannot really be laid at his door.
He has also had to contend with the departures of former head of vehicle concept David Sanchez and sporting director Laurent Mekies, respected figures who have left to join McLaren and AlphaTauri, respectively.
With those exits in mind, Ferrari have been promising some key hires to fill any gaps that may have developed, and it would be positive for the team to be able to announce some arrivals sooner rather than later.
In addition to any technical deficiency, Ferrari continue to struggle to get the simple things right, with strategy blunders having once more cost them points this season.
Too often Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz appear to be being asked to make decisions from the cockpit, which others with all sorts of tools at their disposal should be better placed to make.
Those blunders could be a factor when it comes to the next thing Ferrari need to do, which is securing the futures of both of their drivers, whose contracts expire at the end of the 2024 season.
While Leclerc seems to be hesitant over committing his future to the team, it would appear to potentially be the other way round with Sainz, who has been on record as saying he wants his mid-long term future settled before the start of next season.
Vasseur has said before the summer break that the team was focused on improving their car rather than driver contract negotiations, but surely a team of Ferrari's size should be able to handle both simultaneously?
Just a couple of months ago, the idea that McLaren would feature on a summer break list of potential 2024 Red Bull challengers would have seemed completely berserk, but here we are.
Having transformed the MCL60 with a series of upgrades so severe that team principal Andrea Stella has described their current model as a B-spec car, McLaren have joined the party at the front of the grid.
Lando Norris took back-to-back second places in Britain and Hungary, while Oscar Piastri added a Sprint podium in Belgium.
Despite those stunning highs, there was evidence in Spa that the car still has some major weaknesses, with the speed with which the upgrades have been brought through proving a problem as the team were left without an optimised low-drag rear wing specification for the high-speed circuit.
So McLaren's first task is to ensure that their car is able to flourish not only in cool conditions at certain types of circuits, but also in the hotter weather that can be expected at many stops on the F1 calendar.
Secondly, after a spell in the competitive wilderness, the team must adjust to the fierce level of competition at the front of the grid. Red Bull and Mercedes, along with their drivers, are used to making high-pressure decisions that can be crucial to securing victories and podiums.
One of McLaren's biggest strengths is their hugely talented young driver line-up of Norris and Piastri, but the Australian's gradual improvement could eventually create a problem for Stella and McLaren chief executive Zak Brown.
If McLaren can get back to competing for victories in 2024, there may be tough decisions to make over which car to favour. With Norris continually linked to the sport's other top teams, the team may fear leaving doubt as to whether he is the top dog.
However, if Piastri continues to improve, his pace could become undeniable. It's certainly one for the leadership group in Woking to think about over the remainder of the campaign.
Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch GP and all sessions will be live on Sky Sports F1 on August 25-27. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW for just £26 a month for 12 months. Cancel anytime.
