“Can’t race against that”– Red Bull boss Christian Horner admits they can’t compete against Mercedes straight-line speed; threat to championship chances

Red Bull claims it cannot race against such pace of Mercedes, which was displayed in Brazil as Lewis Hamilton won after starting from P10.

Lewis Hamilton had a thumping win in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix this weekend. With Mercedes dominating Red Bull cars on the straight line. Max Verstappen tried his best to contain hamilton, but he succumbed to Mercedes’ raw pace after a while.

Hamilton even touched the highest pace of 340Kms/h, whereas Verstappen was no way near to the mark. Talking about this new pace found in Mercedes, Christian Horner said they couldn’t stand against Mercedes with such a vast deficit.

Christian Horner saying to Sky Germany that the Mercedes pace is “very very impressive” and that “they can’t race against that”..

He said it will be very difficult if it continues like this#BrazilGP

— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) November 14, 2021

The Red Bull boss further claimed that his team couldn’t comprehend where Mercedes is gaining so much added power. And whether they will protest is still early to say.

Christian Horner said that they need to understand where the straight line speed from the Mercedes is coming and that it is too early to say whether they will protest. #BrazilGP

— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) November 14, 2021

Also read: Former World Champion believes Lewis Hamilton’s drive in Brazil will down as the greatest of all time

Red Bull chief calculates power

Meanwhile, Helmut Marko also talked about Mercedes’ work on Hamilton’s new power unit. So far. he is impressed with their work. However, he confesses that even if Red Bull goes for a new power unit, they won’t match Mercedes’ level.

According to him, the Brackley-based team has obtained over 15 kWh power with their new engine. And for Red Bull currently, it is unmatchable.

Helmut Marko also said that Mercedes did a masterpiece with Lewis’s new PU [also the difference to BOT]. He said they are talking to Honda but even if they take a fresh PU, that could give them about 3 kWh. When asked how much Lewis has now, he guessed around 15 kWh.#BrazilGP

— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) November 14, 2021

For Marko, this situation of Red Bull doesn’t look appropriate for their championship chances with only three more races to go.

Also read: Lewis Hamilton got inspiration from his 2004 Formula 3 race in Bahrain to win Sao Paulo GP in similar fashion

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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