Ex-F1 driver David Coulthard believes it was inevitable Red Bull’s dominance would come to an end after 2023, draw⛄ing a comparison to being “close to the summit of Everest”.

Red Bull won 21 of the 22 races iꦬn 2023 in what was a historic year for the team.

Fast forwa🦄rd to 2024, they drop𓃲ped down to third in the F1 constructors’ championship, winning just two of the last 14 races.

It was still enough for 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen to win his fourth consecutive title, but Red Bull’s era of dominance had truly come to🦹 an end.

When assessღing his former team’s difficulties last year, Coulthard conceded that Red Bull found it “very difficult” to “innovate” after their record-breaking campaign.

𒉰“I’ve been around long enough to know that just because you’ve won in the past doesn’t mean it will continue like that. It was such a dominant year last year [♚2023],” he told .

“When you are so closꦏe to the summit of Everest, it is simply very d♐ifficult to make innovations.”

Red Bull still won more races than McLaren and F𓆉errari in 2024 –😼 even though those two teams finished ahead in the F1 constructors’ championship.

Coulthard added: “There was clearly a path, a direction tha💫t they took with the car that still won ten (nine) Grand Prix, still mor🔯e than any other.

“Correlation is always the big thing. If it works, it works, and if it doesn’t… If it were that s🏅imple, you would just give the rules to an AI tool.

“I♕f it were that simple, everyone would just build the same car. But that’s ju💫st not the case.”

Coulthard hails McLaren turnaround

It’s been a remarkable two years for McLaren.

They started the 2023 campaign with the slowest car, as both 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Oscar Piastri languished at the back of the grid.

An upgrade in Austria transformed their season aܫs Norris regularly finished on the podium behind Verstappen in the second part of the year.

In 2024, an upgra💯de in Miami turned them from the third-fastest team to title contenders.

“It has always been in the ability of 𝐆the top teams to deliver performance from one season to the next,” Coulthard said. “So well done, McLaren! What an amazing turnaround.

“Everyone talks about how it’s been 26 years since they l🍌ast won the constructors’ championship, but someone reminded me that ܫthey did win it with Hamilton and Alonso, but were only banned retrospectively.

“I had forgotten that too. But even if💟 we ignore that, it was a really long time ago.”