In recent months, Formula 1 fans have seen a pattern that they have discovered more than once in recent years. Compared to Mercedes, Red Bull started the season disappointingly, while Mercedes did not get off the starting blocks for the first time. In recent weeks, however, the team of Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon has always taken a new step forward towards the leaders in the championship.
After the strong qualification and the solid race of Max Verstappen, it was one of the most common topics of conversation in the paddock this weekend. Andrew Shovlin, the Trackside Engineering Director of the Mercedes team, was also asked about Red Bull’s progress. Is Mercedes’ dominance in danger? In front of, among others RacingNews365 he acknowledges that the Austrian competitor is panting them in the neck.
However, he doesn’t seem to be really worried. “They are indeed getting closer to us. In qualifying, Max and Lewis clocked their best times in Q2 and if you look at those times, it is indeed very, very close together. Valtteri only managed to squeeze out a perfect lap. when it counted “, the British engineer looks back on qualifying for the Grand Prix of the Eifel.
Even during the race it did not all go by itself. Max had to be taken into account at all times. Nevertheless, Hamilton ultimately won the prize. “It was not an easy race, certainly not. We considered a two-stopper, but there was not a big enough gap to Verstappen for that. So we let Hamilton decide for himself.”
All in all, it became clear in Germany that Mercedes will constantly have to take Red Bull into account for the next six Grands Prix, although Shovlin had already foreseen that. “Over the course of the season they have come closer and closer. That will partly be due to the ban on different engine modes, but they are also developing faster than we are at the moment.”
“That is becoming increasingly clear”, concludes the Mercedes man, who immediately emphasizes that it is nothing new. “To be honest, it has been like this for years. Red Bull often tends to get off the starting blocks less well than we do. I actually can’t remember a season in which Red Bull was not nearly at the same level with us in the final phase. . “
It will most likely be the case this season, Shovlin thinks. “If that trend continues, the coming races will become increasingly difficult for us and it will become increasingly difficult to capture pole position on Saturday and be on the top step of the podium on Sunday,” said the Trackside Engineering Director.
Team boss Toto Wolff also showed his muscles earlier, by admitting that the focus at Mercedes is long and wide on 2021.
– .
:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/3de9d174-0d11-11eb-951e-02d2fb1aa1d7.jpg "More than ten million Americans have already voted | Abroad")