“We no longer have an engine advantage”– How Red Bull forced Mercedes to seek answers in chassis

After having the best engine in the majority of the turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes were shocked to see Honda levelling power in 2021.

Mercedes and Red Bull’s competition in 2021, in comparison to earlier years in the current turbo-hybrid era, is more intense and neck to neck.

Mercedes assumed that Honda, in its last year in F1, would give its best to Red Bull. However, they were shocked to see that the Milton-Keynes-based team levelled the field for 2021.

F1 pundit Marc Surer reveals that when they learned about Red Bull levelling field against Mercedes in power, they started to seek solutions in chassis.

“They noticed ‘the Honda engine is on our level – we no longer have an engine advantage’,” he told the Formula1.de YouTube channel. “In the past, they always had an engine advantage, and because they had more power, they could use bigger wings.”

“That meant they were quick in the corners. And suddenly someone is there with an equally powerful engine. Now they had to go back to the chassis. And I think they found a few more things on the chassis.”

Also read: Amnesty expects Max Verstappen to speak against human rights violations in Saudi Arabia amidst first race in middle-east nation

Silverstone changed the game for Mercedes

Surer reveals that Lewis Hamilton’s win in Silverstone was a game-changer for the Silver Arrows. It gave a massive rise to Hamilton in the table as Max Verstappen ended DNF after a collision with the race winner.

“The update for Silverstone was the big step,” he said. “They have said themselves they have understood the car better since Silverstone. That means the update has probably made the car easier to set up.

“We keep hearing when the balance isn’t 100% you lose time and ruin the tyres,” he added. He furthers reveals how under pressure Hamilton always manages to get results.

“You can always see the strength of a champion when he is under pressure,” he said. “That’s exactly what is happening with Lewis [Hamilton] at the moment.”

Also read: Red Bull boss Christian Horner fed up of ‘manipulative’ Mercedes

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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