How Max Verstappen’s historic 2023 car would have fared in 2024 F1 season as even Aston Martin ahead

The Red Bull RB19 is, statistically, the greatest Formula 1 car ever produced. At the hands of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, it won 21 out of 22 races.

Carlos Sainz was the only driver to deny Red Bull a clean sweep as he won the Singapore Grand Prix, the one aberration for the Milton Keynes outfit. They were the class of the field at virtually every other circuit, regardless of its character.

Verstappen’s individual tally of 19 wins was also an F1 record – both outright and percentage-wise. Perez only managed two, but they combined for an unprecedented 860 points, 451 clear of nearest challengers Mercedes.

The Dutchman would also set a new benchmark of 10 straight wins – beating Sebastian Vettel and Alberto Ascari’s jointly-held record of nine – and 1,003 laps led. No team has ever come so close to invincibility.

Predictably, Red Bull maintained their dominance at the start of 2024, winning four of the first five races. It would have been a clean sweep had a visor tear-off not lodged itself in Verstappen’s brake duct at the Australian GP, leading to his retirement.

But how would the RB19 have fared over the full 2024 season? Here, F1Oversteer crunches the numbers.

Max Verstappen would have struggled to make Q3 this year in 2023 Red Bull RB19

The table below shows the RB19’s best qualifying time from the applicable 2023 events, and the position that would correspond to in 2024. Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sao Paulo are removed due to rain in one of the two seasons.

It’s also worth noting that Azerbaijan moved from the spring to the autumn, and Japan went the other way. The Chinese and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix had to be cancelled last year, which is also part of the reason there are only 18 races listed.

Most of the time, the RB19 would be on the periphery of the top 10. But there are a few outliers that catch the eye.

For instance, the 2023 car could have got pole in Miami, Austria and Azerbaijan. It’s hard to explain these anomalies, but they could be down to different track conditions.

On the other end of the scale, Verstappen and Perez could have found themselves on the back row of the grid in Singapore (perhaps unsurprisingly), Austin and Qatar. This underlines the remarkable rate of development in F1.

Indeed, based on the average position, the world champion would have struggled to make it to Q3 at most weekends. For reference, Fernando Alonso’s average qualifying position this year was 9.58, and the consensus is that the Aston Martin was a fairly poor car.

Liam Lawson says Alex Albon was right about driving the ‘Call of Duty’ Red Bull car

In a sense, this data offers hope for Red Bull. Even with minimal changes to the regulations, teams were able to make big gains.

Naturally, the rate of progress will slow as teams near the end of the development curve. But there’s still potential to overhaul the deficit to McLaren and Ferrari.

Christian Horner and co. opted to part with Perez at the end of the season, with Liam Lawson graduating from Racing Bulls. Red Bull didn’t ‘care’ about the 2021 constructors’ title (won by Mercedes), because Verstappen’s triumph was unexpected, but this year they couldn’t abide finishing third.

Like Perez and Alex Albon before him, Lawson knows the Red Bull is ‘hard to drive’. He too likened it to playing Call of Duty, but he’s prepared for the unique handling after his test outings.