Red Bull has been unstoppable this year as they have now broken a historic 35-year-old record that McLaren previously held. With Max Verstappen registering the team’s twelfth consecutive victory in Hungary (1 win last season), the Milton Keynes-based outfit broke McLaren’s previous record of 11 wins in a row. Following such dominance from Red Bull, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff categorized this situation as F2 cars attempting to catch an F1 car. However, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur seems bemused by these remarks and hit back at the Austrian.
Vasseur urged Wolff to focus on improving his Mercedes car and not to complain about his rivals. The 55-year-old then provided with Wolff a reality check by reminding him about Mercedes’ era of domination during the turbo-hybrid era (2014-21).
On that occasion, Mercedes were by far the most dominant car winning eight consecutive championships during this period. Since the Silver Arrows also had their own era of domination, Vasseur does not seem to understand why Wolff seems rattled.
Fred Vasseur hits back at Toto Wolff over F2 remarks
After Toto Wolff categorized all teams other than Red Bull as having F2 cars, Fred Vasseur seemed far from impressed and hit back at him. When asked about his remarks, the Frenchman told formu1a.uno, “Give him an F2 and we’ll see (laughs). Red Bull is in front, but the feeling is the same as when Mercedes was there“.
Vasseur then added that instead of complaining, Red Bull’s rivals should focus on themselves and work hard to “do more and minimize mistakes“. He then explained why it does not make sense to make these remarks about F2 considering that the situation is simple, and that the other nine teams on the grid are not as fast as Red Bull.
It is also important to note that there is a considerable difference in pace between an F1 car and a F2 car. According to an article put out by redbull.com, an F1 car has a horsepower of 1000 while an F2 car just has a maximum horsepower of 620.
As a result, F2 cars are about 10-15 mph slower on average than F1 cars. And when it comes to the top speed, F1 cars can move faster than 230 mph while F2 cars can barely touch 200 mph.
Since Formula 2 cars are so much slower than F1 cars, Mercedes would be much further behind if they utilized a car from F2. However, that does not mean that the difference in pace between Red Bull and the Silver Arrows is not substantial.
Ferrari and Mercedes are way off the pace set by Red Bull
Red Bull are undoubtedly in a league of their own as they have won all 11 races of the 2023 season so far. Reigning Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen has won nine of them, while Sergio Perez has won the other two.
Plus, their dominance is clearly also reflected in the Constructors’ Championship. This is because after the first 11 races, Red Bull have already scored 452 points and are a whopping 229 points ahead of second-placed Mercedes. When it comes to Ferrari, they are currently in fourth place with just 167 points.
Even though both Ferrari and Mercedes have brought in upgrades, they have been nowhere close to the pace set by Red Bull. As a result, it seems more like a question of when Red Bull will seal both the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ Championships rather than if they will do it.
