Christian Horner is surprised by Mercedes’ performance gain in Turkey
With six races to go in the 2021 Formula 1 championship, Christian Horner said he was surprised by Mercedes team's resurgence in performance at the Turkish Grand Prix.
The Red Bull team and its driver Max Verstappen came to Turkey to take back the lead of the Formula 1 championship from Lewis Hamilton. Although the Dutchman’s second place allowed him to push the Briton back to 6 points, questions still arise within the Austrian team.
Indeed, Max Verstappen finished 2nd at the end of the race, and he was never able to challenge for the win against Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes. Worse, the Red Bull team was clearly outperformed by Mercedes in practice sessions and during qualifying. The introduction of a new power unit in car number 77 in Sochi and a new engine in car 44 in Turkey allowed the Silver Arrows to bring more straight-line speed to their cars. While Red Bull used to compensate for their lack of top speed by reducing the aerodynamic downforce on their cars, it seems that today Mercedes has taken a significant step forward. As an illustration, one could mention Lewis Hamilton’s passing attempt on Sergio Pérez on the long straight at Istanbul Park, despite having a much more open rear wing.
Hamilton and Perez served up a treat with this mini battle 🍿#TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/jOTcurRWue
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 10, 2021
Interviewed by Motorsport.com about the pace of the Mercedes this weekend, Christian Horner stated that: “Their top speed has recently increased significantly, and I think that while we could previously match them with smaller wings, now we cannot get close to them.”
We saw it especially on this circuit, where Lewis had a significant advantage on the straights with a larger rear wing. We need to get the best out of our package. And, as I say, it’s surprising that they have made such a step forward with the power unit.
If the next Grand Prix in Austin seems to be dominated by Mercedes, the sports director of the Austrian team can still count on the Grand Prix of Brazil and Mexico (thanks to Red Bull) to score valuable points in the championships (drivers and constructors). What about the last three Grand Prix in Qatar, Jeddah, and Abu Dhabi? One thing is certain, this championship will keep us on the edge of our seats until the end of the season.
