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The premier event of the current year of the Formula 1 series is behind us, and what was predicted during the three-day winter tests in Bahrain was confirmed on the circuit in Sakhir. Austrian Red Bull Racing is far ahead of everyone else, and the rival Mercedes team just shakes their heads in incomprehension.
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First a victory in the qualification and then an absolutely dominant triumph at Bahrain Grand Prix. Defender of the Constructors’ Cup, team Red Bull Racinghe came to victory in a commanding manner, taking both first and second place.
Acting Master Max Verstappen he won by twelve seconds ahead of his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez and Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso in an Aston Martin crossed the finish line in third place. He lost almost half a minute to the second!
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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Source: Reuters
Red Bull from another planet. Mercedes is considering a radical change
Until recently, the dominant Mercedes took 5th and 7th place and has a lot to work on. Team boss This is Wolff after Bahrain he just dryly stated that it was one of the worst days he ever experienced in racing.
“It really wasn’t good. We lacked performance in almost every area,” quotes the Austrian British Sky Sports, “Red Bull is like on a completely different planet. It’s something that worries us a lot. They are too far ahead of us and it reminds me of our best years. We gave the others a second,” Wolff recalled the most dominant period of Mercedes, which managed to capture up to 8 Constructors’ Cup titles in a row.
“It has to be our goal. We have to go step by step and go back. I know it’s within our power,” believes the boss of Mercedes, who warns, however, that his team will not be enough just a kind of ordinary package of improvements.
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This is Wolff
Source: Reuters
The German stable must proceed to decisive solutions, “I think it has to be much more radical than just some steps to get us 3 tenths. The gap between us and Red Bull has not doubled, but tripled. We should pay attention to that.”
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“We couldn’t do it last season. We thought we could solve this while still sticking to the same single-seater concept. We see that it’s not working, so we have to focus on something completely different, which will mainly get us back on track.” thinks Wolff.
“I don’t know what else will happen this year, but we have to find some miracle pill that will give us at least half a second. However, we have not found any such so far. If we look at our current possibilities, catching up with Red Bull is practically unrealistic,” adds.
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George Russell, Mercedes
Source: Reuters
Russell thinks Red Bull will win it all
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton he started on Sunday in the seventh position and crossed the finish line in fifth place, while in an epic battle he was also able to beat his old-known rival Fernando Alonso in an excellent working Aston Martin. The fears that the 38-year-old Brit had during the tests came true.
“We can’t even compare with Ferrari. They were much faster than us and the same goes for Aston Martin.” said Hamilton while still in testing, stating that Mercedes is not advancing but rather retreating, “We are the fourth fastest team and we are gradually dropping. We still have a lot of work to do.”
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His teammate is also very frustrated George Russell, who took 7th place. He too just shook his head at Red Bull’s performance. “They practically have this season in their pocket. I don’t think anyone can match them this year. I would bet that with this performance they win everything this year.” thinks the 25-year-old Briton.
“They have it easy. They can do absolutely anything they want. They may not win all the qualifiers because Ferrari is very competitive there, but they lack that performance in the races.” Russell, whom he quotes, added resignedly BBC Sport.
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Lewis Hamilton a Sergio Perez
Source: Reuters
They should do what Aston Martin does. Copy Red Bull
Editor of British Sky Sports Ted Kravitz declared that Mercedes should be inspired by the engineers of rival Aston Martin and start “copying” Red Bull. It brought its fruit to the “greens”, which was clearly visible already during the tests in Bahrain and finally in Sunday’s race, in which Alonso took an excellent third place.
“Mercedes changed its concept during the winter. Last year they tried to go as low as possible and it was ‘propoising’, so the whole plan for 2022 was written off. They decided to make a change, raised the single-seater a bit and said to themselves that ‘let’s leave the sidewalls as they are, aerodynamically speaking they are fine.’ Turns out that doesn’t work either. So they move on to the third concept. The third in two and a half years!” points out Kravitz.
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Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
Source: Reuters
“It’s something similar to what Aston Martin did. He made this clear: ‘There is nothing wrong with our power unit, rear suspension or gearbox.’ This is exactly the case with Aston. Look at them, it’s more or less a copy of Red Bull. This is exactly what Mercedes should do as well.” thinks Ted Kravitz, reacting to the German team’s possible upgrade package that could make the W14 single-seater three-tenths a lap faster.
The next race is scheduled for two weeks in Saudi Arabia, starting on Sunday, March 19 at 6:00 p.m. Not only Mercedes has a lot to do in order to be able to at least partially withdraw the menacingly dominant and flying Red Bull Racing.
