Until now, it was Mercedes who came up with innovations for which it was under the scrutiny of rivals. However, times are changing. The team from Brackley is no longer dominating the starting field as in the recent past and the reins of Formula 1 have been taken over by Red Bull. It is the Austrian unit that naturally brings the smartest solutions. Not long ago, Toto Wolff said that under certain circumstances he is not against copying opponents, but so far the “silver arrows” are said not to be dependent on it. However, after the start of the new season, the opposite seems to be true. The “Copper” belongs to the third place in the team competition, which the German giant certainly cannot be satisfied with – and it is not, even to such an extent that, according to the words of its boss, it may be inspired by its closest competitors in the near future.
It seems that the days when Mercedes came exclusively with its own solutions are gone forever. The German factory team is still trying to come up with ideas, but the truth is that they are not very successful.
If Mercedes wants to think about winning in the near future, it has two options. Either stay true to your ideas and believe that they will succeed, or be inspired by the competition. It looks like Toto Wolff’s patience is running out and sooner or later he will decide on the second of the named options.
“I think at this stage [sezóny, pozn. red.] we have no dogmatism about what a car should look like.” stated This is Wolff. “It has to be the fastest racing car possible. I don’t care if the car looks like Red Bull or SpaceX, but it has to be fast.”
“If it looks like Red Bull, we’ll put a little bull with a sticker somewhere. If it’s fast, I won’t be ashamed.”
For now, however, Mercedes does not intend to copy Red Bull (or anyone else). Wolff believes the W14 single-seater will improve rapidly once the engineers manage to set its ideal ride height.
“I think the biggest changes that we are [oproti vlaňajšku, pozn. red.] done is that we try to get the car to its ideal settings,” he explained Wolff. “Last year the car was set too low, now it’s too high for a change. We believe we know what to do now.’
“Of course, then you want to have the floor and body perfectly adjusted. I don’t want to sound too silly and optimistic, but at least I see a little light at the end of the tunnel, which is encouraging.” added the 51-year-old Austrian.
