The 2021 season opener in Bahrain revealed quite a few things. One of these was the fact that teams that had gone for a “low-rake” approach to aerodynamics had ended up with a car that was very sensitive to wind. World champions Mercedes belong in that category and they only narrowly managed to win the first race which was helped by issues on both Red Bull cars. Many believe that Red Bull would be impossible to beat if their cars can run at full potential. Experts have also explained how it will be difficult to rectify the aerodynamic sensitivity of the low-rake cars. As such, the saying that “if you cannot beat them, join them” could come into play and Mercedes could copy Red Bull’s approach to aerodynamics. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has now looked at the likelihood of something like that happening.
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0:00 - Will Mercedes Copy Red Bull’s “High-Rake” Philosophy?
1:53 - Fast Feed
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Will Mercedes Copy Red Bull’s “High-Rake” Philosophy?
Wolff began by suggesting that there are other issues at play as well
“First of all, I don’t think the rake is the only singular effect that we may be suffering from. These new tyres that we are racing in 2021 [are also a factor]”
He then spoke specifically about the rake angle and its effects on the 2021 cars
“Our analyses have shown that the higher rake concept has lost less downforce than the lower rake one and in the last year of these regulations, we wouldn’t be able to replicate the concept that Red Bull and some of the other teams have been racing”
He then explained why it wouldn’t be possible to use a higher rake angle on their cars
“It’s physically not possible. We couldn’t run our suspensions and settings in the way that Red Bull does and so we need to do the best out of it and tune the car to what we have available”
He signed off by stating that despite this, they still have the capability to put up a strong fight
“It’s maybe more difficult for us to recover some of the lost downforce – but so far, what I’ve seen, and what I hope is that we can have a really tough fight [with Red Bull]”
Fast Feed
Retired F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve “can't wait to see how” Red Bull’s Max Verstappen “performs in the coming races"
Villeneuve added that "everyone sees him as a future world champion. It's up to him to prove that”
He also stated that his “first reaction would have been to criticise this move” to include sprint races
However, he feels that “if you think about it, F1 needs to innovate” and “this formula is worth exploring”
F1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali has reiterated that “Liberty Media is in favour of a great battle between all the teams”
He also feels that “it's clear that Ferrari plays an important role and everyone hopes they do well, because that helps the company tremendously”
“Ferrari is unique for everything they've done for Formula One and they have a great history in motorsport”
He also confirmed that “it was not possible to have a race with an audience at Imola and” he is “very sad about that”
He added that whether they “return there in the future depends on many things”. They “will study it, but what” they “want above all is to enjoy next week”
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko feels that “Bahrain has shown that they are both at absolute top level, nobody can match that at the moment” referring to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and his driver Max Verstappen
He added that ”the duel was fascinating to watch” and he thinks that “Hamilton is also enjoying the battle immensely because Max is forcing him to push himself to the limit”
Honda F1 boss Masashi Yamamoto is of the opinion that they “have to try to improve the performance for the second race so that” they “can compete”
Meanwhile, Christian Horner feels that Honda have “done a great job and pushed the boundaries with this engine”
Max Verstappen’s personal trainer Brad Scanes has joked that his “wife says” he spends “more time with Max than with her”
Red Bull’s junior driver Juri Vips feels that “there is always pressure to perform when you are in the Red Bull programme or any other programme to reach F1”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has explained that “even at a young age”, drivers “are exposed to a work environment in which people are much older than” they are
“That makes you more mature and you know how to fight for your own interests” according to Sainz
Former F1 driver turned commentator David Coulthard thinks that Red Bull’s Sergio Perez “has the maturity to handle the Max factor, the maturity to see that few people can beat Max except Max himself”
McLaren Daniel Ricciardo has divulged that “to this day”, his “dad can drive three pedals ten times better than” him. “He is so good that he still loves motor racing”
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