Timo Glock: Ferrari did not lose second place in Abu Dhabi

Former Formula 1 driver Timo Glock summarized the season in an author’s column on the German Sky Sport website, paid tribute to Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, commented on the results of Ferrari and Haas and said goodbye to the now former head of Alpha Tauri, Franz Tost.

There is nothing more to say about Max Verstappen – this year he simply left everyone speechless. It feels like he’s already set all the records that can be set. He was the kind of driver who made no mistakes at all. His team did an excellent job and avoided technical problems. It’s incredible how effective Red Bull is.

You can only tip your hat to Max’s results. If he doesn’t achieve icon status this year, he certainly will in the coming years. I fully expect that Red Bull will still have an advantage in 2024 because they were able to focus all their efforts early on creating a new car. This was mainly possible thanks to Verstappen, who achieved a huge lead. An incredible success in every respect and a simply excellent result.

Ferrari did not lose second place in Abu Dhabi

At the end of the race in Abu Dhabi, Charles Leclerc made a brilliant move, allowing Sergio Perez to take the lead. This was probably a joint decision between the driver and the team strategists. But Ferrari could consider bringing Sergio in a lap or two earlier. Team leader Frederic Vasseur made this clear.

The Scuderia lost second place in the Constructors’ Championship to Mercedes, not in the season finale, but in other races where they had problems.

Franz Tost retires from Formula 1

In the last weekend of the season we saw Franz Tost as he always was: straightforward and emotionless, even when it came to saying goodbye. Shortly before the start of the race it was clear that he was moved. Franz is of course absolutely right when he says that AlphaTauri could have achieved a better result if they had worked better with Yuki Tsunoda’s strategy.

Toast’s straightforwardness will be missed by Formula 1 and Red Bull. He trained many young racers; Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen passed through his hands. Toast’s departure is a loss for Red Bull, for Formula 1 and for all of us.

Headache by Gunther Steiner

At Haas we saw drama to the tenth power. They put so much effort and money into creating new products and hoped that the car would take a big step forward thanks to the updates, but this didn’t even come close to happening. In fact, the exact opposite happened: the team took a step back.

This will obviously cause headaches in the preparation for 2024, as the car they hoped to use as a basis for development simply does not exist. The car puts too much strain on the tires during the race distance. Günter Steiner has a lot to think about. I just hope that Nico Hulkenberg gets a more competitive car next year.

The Las Vegas stage is the main event of the season

On the one hand, Max Verstappen had an excellent season, but on the other hand, we would have liked to see a more exciting battle. Verstappen deserved this result and there were still exciting races throughout the year. The highlight was of course Las Vegas. This phase set new standards.

I’m already looking forward to 2024 and hope that Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and the rest get closer to Max Verstappen and Red Bull.