Sky Sports pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz voiced what he claimed was a "commonly held opinion" in the Formula 1 paddock that the 2022 car design rule change was brought in "to stop Mercedes dominance".
Last season marked the beginning of a new mini-era for the sport with completely redesigned cars. A swathe of changes were made which meant the new cars looked and performed differently, leading to uncertainty as to who would adapt the most quickly.
Mercedes had won the constructors' championship eight times in a row prior to last season. Red Bull ended that streak with a remarkably dominant 2022 season, which Kravitz feels may have been one of the desired effects of the rule change.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Vodcast, he said: "There is a reasonably commonly held opinion among some people in the paddock that they only changed the rules – or part of the reason why they changed the rules – was to stop Mercedes dominance. Well, that certainly worked, didn't it?
"They also changed the rules with the stated aim of improving the racing. It did do that to a large degree. But in 2021 the championship was decided on the last lap, and in 2022 it was decided in Japan with four races to go. So it didn't exactly close up the field in terms of the championship, did it?"
And Kravitz tagged an ominous warning to the other teams on the grid onto the end of that assertion, adding: "It meant Red Bull got it right so much that they are now the favourites going in. That dominance, I think, will run probably until the next rule change in 2026."
It remains to be seen who will lead from the front this year, though pre-season testing offered significant evidence that Red Bull may indeed be the team to beat again. Kravitz certainly believes that will be the case, as he gave his rundown of what he feels is the balance of powe r based on those three days of practice in Bahrain.
"The only reason [Red Bull] weren't dominating qualifying in the way Ferrari perhaps did early on last year was because their car was overweight," he said. "That's not an issue that they have [this year]."
Meanwhile, he believes Ferrari have "got a lot of work to do to be quick in either qualifying and the race", adding: "At the moment both of those have been somewhat dominated by Red Bull."
