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Will Red Bull face opposition in Austin? 'It's not a horrible car to drive'
The 2023 F1 season is no longer about the titles but things are still exciting in the constructors' championship. Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert assesses the chances of Red Bull Racing and McLaren for the United States Grand Prix. McLaren can take important points.
McLaren advances
In the constructors' championship, McLaren are moving up quickly. In fact, the team has been the top scorers over the past three races with a total of 104 points tallied by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. This allowed McLaren to beat Red Bull Racing by almost 30 points over those three races. The team is currently just 11 points behind Aston Martin. Aston Martin started particularly strongly with Fernando Alonso but now looks set to lose P4 to McLaren.
As long as Max Verstappen is still behind the wheel of an RB19, victory seems hard to come by, but a double podium is now familiar to the team again. With the steep upward trend in the team's performance come higher expectations from each F1 weekend as well. For instance, Herbert looks at McLaren's chances of beating Red Bull in Austin.
'McLaren could look strong in Austin'
Herbert told Lucky Block: "Red Bull have still got that little edge over everyone. We saw the McLaren performance which was good to see from the sprint race and the race itself. Red Bull had to think about their strategy to ensure there was a big enough gap." This reflection takes the former F1 driver into his prediction for the US GP.
He continues: "The characteristics of the track, which is quite bumpy, could aid McLaren, who to my mind, have the best handling car out there. It is not a horrible car to drive. The Red Bull still has little elements where it tries to bite you every now and again, but Max is able to deal with theta generally. The McLaren just looks very easy to drive. Maybe with the bumps they will be in a slightly stronger position. But overall it is still Red Bull and Max."
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