“If we can get the balance right”– Valtteri Bottas explains how they can defeat Red Bull, as Mercedes contemplating ways to defend its throne.
Mercedes this season is facing a nail-biting competition from Red Bull, and it could dethrone them from Formula 1’s championship, with Max Verstappen clearing the deficit against Lewis Hamilton.
Valtteri Bottas, who has not been at his usual level with Mercedes, has drawn ways to defeat Red Bull this year, but it doesn’t something which Mercedes’ engineering department wouldn’t know.
“I still believe we can catch them,” he told the F1 website when quizzed on the improvements needed to fight back. I still believe from the feeling in the car that there is more to unlock from it.”
“If we can get the balance right, if we can get the car to be more drivable, the true corner balance more reliable with understanding and fine-tuning the set-up, there’s more to come.”
“23 races is a long time to learn about the package, and it just means we need to be more efficient than the other teams. We know Red Bull are good at in-season development but we just need to out-pace them.”
Valtteri Bottas is the real weakness of Mercedes.
The above suggestions by Bottas are at the surface, and the thing is that Mercedes can’t possibly do anything about it, as they are struggling with the floor regulations, which is why Red Bull has a slight edge.
However, this doesn’t mean that Mercedes is weak, but the biggest issue is the roles reversed. Last year, Mercedes easily managed to either split Red Bull or pressurize Max Verstappen.
This year with Sergio Perez joining, the qualifying performances have improved, even if the same hasn’t been reflected in the races so far. But the problem with Mercedes still lies with Bottas, as the Finnish was miserable in Imola, and Hamilton appears to be all by himself in the upcoming races.
