F1 Fan on Twitter Debunks ‘Engine Cheating’ Allegations on Mercedes Resurfaced by Red Bull Fans

On Friday, with no race weekend in sight, a Twitter handle named RBR Daily, a Red Bull-dedicated fan account, resurfaced the cheating allegations on Mercedes. The Silver Arrows dominated the sport from 2014 to 2021 by winning eight straight championships because of their engine’s excellence.

However, an allegation from the past resurfaced using an ex-Mercedes engineer’s comments, who claims that his former team broke the rules while producing the engine. It even claimed that Mercedes started the engine development in 2011, which was back then not even allowed.

🚨 | A former Mercedes’ engineer has said that they started their Hybrid era development in 2011 before anyone else

He also describes their PU development as ‘Bending the rules to suit their Powertrain’ 😲 pic.twitter.com/lgJifuJN6s

— RBR Daily (@RedBullUpdates) April 14, 2023

So, the legitimacy of Mercedes’s dominance was also even questioned. However, a fan came to the rescue of the Brackley-based team and fought for Mercedes’ innocence.

Mercedes survived every hurdle

An F1 fan named V F1 on Twitter tries to debunk all the allegations levied against Mercedes. He first claimed that the eight-time world champions first made a four-cylinder engine, which was supposed to be out in 2013.

But F1 is full of competitors who try to cut away all the edges the opposition hold. Thus, reports resurfaced where Ferrari and Renault tried to push for a V6 engine.

These people don’t even know that F1 was supposed to have in line 4 cylinder engines that Mercedes had ready by 2011 as the engines were expected for 2013.

But then Ferrari and Renault pushed for v6 and Mercedes had to scrap their engine block and start again #F1

— V F1 (@swiftsambi) April 14, 2023

The FIA had to bend the rules because two major teams got involved. So, Mercedes, relatively being a new team, had to settle with the change and come back. Yet, even with the last-minute modifications, the side led by Toto Wolff probably produced the lengthiest domination in the sport.

Mercedes was afraid about the deadline

With the FIA going for the V6, the deadline for the new engine regulations being imposed shifted to 2014. But Mercedes had a huge problem, as they had to work from scratch while disposing of their four-cylinder engine somewhere in the Brixworth.

However, getting the engine with the modified regulations wasn’t easy. In fact, the Silver Arrows even thought that they wouldn’t be able to make the engine in time and could end up with incomplete equipment for the Australian Grand Prix 2014.

The F1 fan in one of the tweets also posted a link to Andy Cowell’s interview. In the video, Cowell can be seen how Mercedes worked hard not to see their car and other customers’ cars stranded in Australia GP 2014.

Here is Andy cowell’s interview again from a credible source where he does explain how tough it was even for Mercedes to ensure the cars were not stranded in Australia 2014 #F1 https://t.co/empcltSPvc

— V F1 (@swiftsambi) April 14, 2023

Thus, the claim of Mercedes seeking advantage by developing an engine before anyone else seems to be incorrect when put against the facts presented. On contrary, it seems they had to adapt to all the adversaries put in their way to slow down their progress. Alas, Mercedes conquered all the hurdles.

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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