“Aerodynamic Department Missing a Trick”: Ex-F1 Champion Points Mercedes’ Complacency That Led to Red Bull’s Rise as Hegemons

Damon Hill has recently pointed out a huge weakness of the Mercedes F1 team. The former F1 champion believes that the Silver Arrows are missing a trick in their aerodynamics department and this is something that is hampering their overall performances.

The former British driver also emphasized that Mercedes losing key men to rivals is also one of the reasons why they are lagging behind. Speaking about this, Hill said as per FormulaPassion, “The new ones. What I mean is, is Mercedes’ aerodynamic department missing a trick? Over time they lost quite a few good aerodynamicists to other teams.”

Over time, the Silver Arrows lost Phil Phew, who worked as Chief Power Unit Engineer in the Brackley-based team. After him, Ben Hodgkinson, who was the head of mechanical engineering, also made his move out of the team in 2022.

Arch-rivals Red Bull hired both of them soon after. More recently, longtime Mercedes faithful Mike Elliot also left the team after helping the side win several championships during the turbo-hybrid era.

How did Mercedes lose ground against Red Bull?

Mercedes began to dominate right from the beginning of the 2014 season. They obliterated every opposition, including Red Bull. The Silver Arrows trumped the team that dominated the grid for four years from 2010 to 2013. Mercedes got a massive advantage due to the new regulations set up in 2014.

On the other hand, Red Bull struggled due to inferior Renault engines. However, it was the switching to Honda that gave the Milton Keynes outfit the boost to make significant improvements. Soon after, Red Bull closed the gap to Mercedes and also fought the Silver Arrows hard in the 2021 campaign.

However, Red Bull’s biggest improvement came at the start of the 2022 season when they emerged as the frontrunners. The Milton Keynes outfit have won 36 out of a total of 42 races since then. Moreover, since the rules are relatively stable until the 2026 season, Red Bull are unlikely to lose their supremacy anytime soon.

About the author

Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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