Mercedes is confident about having solved the 2021 engine unreliability woes, putting them at a setback against Red Bull.
In the competition against Red Bull for the championship, Mercedes engine reliability was the biggest concern so far. With Valtteri Bottas taking six engines this season and the crew are safeguarding Lewis Hamilton’s fourth engine. It seemed the Silver Arrows was in trouble.
However, recent reports suggest that the Silver Arrows have solved the issue. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff claims that they have made some improvements in that department.
Helmut Marko: “The current status is that we are just slightly behind Mercedes in engine performance. With the lowering of the rear, they have an advantage on long straights. With the chassis, it depends on the day form. The superiority we had from France onwards is gone.”#AMuS
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) November 4, 2021
“I think we have we’ve gotten on top of the reliability issue that we had,” Wolff told media, including RacingNews365.com. “We didn’t see that phenomenon occur anymore.”
“Which is a good step forward. Hopefully, knock on wood, from the reliability side we should be on a good trajectory.”
Also read: Mercedes predicts the verdict of remaining four races; title not over yet
Mexico is a positive sign for Mercedes
The higher altitude venue of Mexico was seen as the biggest obstacle for the Brackley-based team in 2021 due to the thin air. However, Mercedes’ qualifying performance displays that it wasn’t as bad as they thought.
Though Mercedes lost in Mexico, Andrew Shovlin believes that Mexico shows the strength engine has obtained. So, with this, Mercedes could aim for a better Brazilian Grand Prix.
“Well, we know that we’ve made a bit of progress,” Shovlin explained. “It’s impossible to say with them [Honda]. I’d say the issues this weekend.”
“We focused on the chassis side and how we could get a bit more grip, stop sliding around and overheating. It didn’t feel like we had a deficit on the power unit side. We’ll do an analysis on that.”
“It’s just difficult to isolate everything that’s going on at one single race; you need to really look at them over a sequence of events to understand that.”
Also read: Mercedes team principal refuses to accept Championship defeat just yet
