Work to do for Red Bull Racing and Honda: 'Mercedes understands that far better'

F1 News

18 May 2021 at 07:30
Last update 18 May 2021 at 08:39
  • GPblog.com

The title fight in Formula 1 this year is between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, but in the last two races, Mercedes seemed to be running away from them. A remarkable development, as Red Bull were the team with the big updates.

Work to do for Red Bull

At the start of the season, it was Red Bull Racing that came out on top, but after four races it's clear that Mercedes already know how to get the maximum performance out of the car. According to the Tech expert, Craig Scarborough, there have been no real updates at Mercedes.

''Mercedes are getting more out of the car, learning more and more how the car works. It's nothing like the big update everyone predicted for Spain. For them now it's very much the car they launched with, and they understand the tyres far better than Red Bull,'' Scarborough said in a video by Peter Windsor.

Honda must catch up

"Red Bull had a really good update in Spain. Especially in the lowest part of the car, you see the updates this year with new bargeboards. However, we are not yet seeing the fruits of that. It is lacking in terms of chassis and powertrain compared with Mercedes. So they've got some catching up to do if they want to grab this opportunity for the championship," he added. 

According to Scarborough, there are two facets Adrian Newey and his team need to work on. "There are two key areas. They need to find more efficient downforce, to get the tyres working in the same way Mercedes are doing. Also, Honda have caught up and they are on Mercedes' heels, but Mercedes have slightly more deployment on the energy recovery system. However, I don't feel that Honda is going to sit back. I expect an update with the second power unit," Scarborough concludes.