Manoah2u wrote: ↑14 Mar 2021, 21:41
Merc has the freedom to turn their dials from 8,5 to 11 if they need to.
RedBull already has their dials up on 12, and at best they can challenge Merc being on 8,5.
RedBull obviously also is running their 'dyno cell' as Mercedes is doing, in other words, these test days are nothing more but 'synchronizing'. You could even argue Merc's gearbox problems were just random 'coincidence', or on the other hand, they were actually persuing real-life boundaries and now know where that limit is, and as such have a benefit.
The cold fact remains all teams have been playing catchup. Mercedes still holds the higher ground.
Mercedes mentioned something before, when Ferrari was playing cheaters with their engines: that Mercedes had to adapt and develop to beat the cheaters, and became even more powerfull. Then, the cheaters got caught and subsequentially lost all their 'play'. wolff himself called it irony that these games made them even better. What people seem to forget is that this shows just how far Mercedes is willing to go and has still improved from their already mighty engine AND car. The pink Mercedes immediately was a great improvement , but still the pinks were nowhere near the Mercedes itself. At best, it was RBR-ToroRosso/AT comparable.
Mercedes clearly hasn't sat still, and have developed and improved. They were ahead always, and they have improved.
RedBull has managed to 'catch up' more or less to them and was helped by the crazy 2020 season, tracks that suited them better than AMG perhaps,
and the fact Ferrari was missing from the picture.
I don't expect Ferrari to have suddenly 'reappeared' out of nowhere, but i'm expecting them to be closer in 2021, and that goes for AMR, Mclaren and Alpine too.
RedBull has 1 driver in the shape of Perez who can now also play ball (where Albon just couldn't), and get RBR - and Max - better shots at the WDC and WCC. After all, Perez is more likely to come in between Max and Bottas for that matter.
However, RedBull has 1 'extra card' in their hands - Mercedes has 4 of them.
Mclaren is now running Mercedes engines. That's gonna benefit them compared to the Renaults before, and they have Ricciardo. All whilst running Mercedes engines.
Aston Martin is the clear B-team / sister team, Wolff is buddies with Stroll SR, has a stake in the team, and AMR is ever so more invested.
So it's all fun and games to concider RedBull are 'looking good', the truth remains they're not alone in the field, and even though Honda has claimed to do some extra work,
it's a fact that Honda is stepping out, and the rest is NOT.
RedBull has a tougher fight than at first sight is visible.
All it takes is a few first GP tech issues and motivation plummets and the competition gets and advantage.
All along, that offcourse goes just the same for Mercedes. A bad start of the season and RedBull can get a head start.
The simple end-truth is this: there really hasn't changed all that much since the last race, last season.
And let's not forget:
Mercedes has won ALL WDC and WCC's since 2014. That's 7 seasons. that's 14 titles.
Before that, it was RedBull who got all the gravy, bar 2009.
The only thing that really changed that was the rules changes in 2014.
Otherwise, RedBull would have had more in the bag - i don't even have the faintest doubt about that.
I don't want to be too negative and grim and dark, but it's just the truth.
Hell, i would love to see them challenge Mercedes for real. Not just for shows.
But the only real fights that are going on are not between AMG and RBR.
It's Mercedes, Alpine, Aston Martin, Ferrari.
And that's what i want to see RBR engage with against Mercedes. Not RBR 'luckily barily managing to challenge' thanks to extreme efforts.
I want RBR being able to hit Mercedes with a right hook, and then Mercedes hitting them with the left hook, fair and square.
It's going to take the actual 1st GP of 2021 before we will find that out.
, perfect ending to a fascinating 3 days!
