Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff lately credited Red Bull’s hard work for their insane dominance in F1 in recent times. Admitting defeat to the defending champions, Wolff said the Austrian team did a good job and hence enjoying the success now.
As per Formel1.de, the Mercedes boss said Formula 1 is all about meritocracy. One who works the hardest gets and deserves the most success. Even though it’s not good for the sport, it is what it is, believes the Austrian honcho.
One, two 🏆🏆 One, two 🏆🏆 #GivesYouWings pic.twitter.com/VtfzXtEbuZ
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 19, 2023
The specialty of F1 is this dominance, which might not be a good fit from the commercial point of view, but this is what it’s all about, thinks the 51-year-executive.
Wolff, who thinks they can’t fight Red Bull this year, says they also enjoyed similar success from 2014 to 2020. Being the most dominant team ever during those periods, he shared that he was a part of the team that experienced sheer domination.
Wolff gives up on fighting Red Bull in 2023
After the first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Red Bull showed a glimpse of their mighty RB-19. After taking the pole position, 1-2 in the opening race, the Bulls took the pole position, fastest lap, and repeated the 1-2 in Jeddah.
For a driver to come back from P15 to P2 in a relatively narrow yet fast tells the monstrous advantage the Red Bull challengers have over its competitors. At the time when the Austrian team has been so dominant, the W14 of Mercedes has been the exact opposite.
“That looked like F1 against F2.”
The difference in pace between Red Bull and Mercedes 😳 pic.twitter.com/mqO8e0s1qM
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) March 19, 2023
The W14 is not only inferior when it comes to straight-line speed, but also lacks efficiency in DRS, preciseness in the corner, and struggles in pure race pace. Since the situation is not at all in the right direction for the Silver Arrows, Wolff believes competing against the defending champions is unrealistic.
Lewis Hamilton said RB-19 is the fastest car ever
The seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has recently called the RB-19, the fastest F1 car he has ever seen. After Max Verstappen, who was already confident, went past him in Jeddah, he made these comments in the media after the race.
As per reports, the Briton said that he has never seen such a fast car in his career. He went on to say that they were fast during their dominant era, but they were never this fast.
He also stated that he didn’t bother to block the defending champion, as he didn’t have enough pace to fight with the Dutchman for his enormous speed advantage.