31 January 2024 , 19:04
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Guenther Steiner is certain Red Bull's rivals will be in with a shout of toppling Max Verstappen this year.
No-one could touch the Dutchman last year when he was armed with the all-conquering RB19. And there are fears that the situation will not change until the next major change to car regulations in 2026.
But Steiner seems confident that the balance of power could shift before then. The former Haas boss pointed at the progress other teams made throughout the 2023 season as reasons to be hopeful that the competition will be much closer this year.
Asked for his opinion on the situation at the front of the grid, Steiner said: "That will end. This is a period in my opinion... I think the teams next year, some of them will catch up. Look at what McLaren did last year, they caught up pretty quick.
"Any race it can come that somebody catches up because the regulations stayed stable. There is a limit [on] what you can develop and it's just [that] everybody is going to [reach] that point.
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"Then, for sure, in 2026 I think the cars are even newer, with the new regulations, engine regulations, [so] there will be a complete change in everything in 2026 in my opinion. I think the sport will stay interesting."
The point Steiner made about teams getting closer to the performance ceiling of the current regulations echoes what Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said at the end of last season. He too admitted that the gap between his team and their rivals is likely to close, because the champions have far less room to improve.
Horner said: "I'm fully expecting - with stable regs and diminishing returns for us because I think we got to the top of the curve quicker than others - the field is going to converge.
"There's always a reset as you go into the following year, and I'm convinced that you'll see a lot more cars that perhaps look like an RB19 philosophy. If you stand still in this business, you tend to be going backwards. And I think that we have got up that curve quicker than others. But we're into a law of diminishing returns."
Even Verstappen is aware that he is unlikely to have it as easy as he did last year again. He said: "The others will improve their cars and get closer to us. I don't think it's that realistic to achieve that win rate again. But that's fine. To already have a season like we've had is insane... The others are not stupid. They are all learning."