F1 | Mercedes-Red Bull: it’s the game to play on … risks!

The wall that divides the Mercedes garage from the Red Bull one sees concern on both fronts.

In Max Verstappen’s garage the nervousness is linked to the technical growth of Mercedes, which in turn coexists with the concern that precisely this growth could jeopardize reliability.

The Horner-Marko tandem has already thrown more pebbles into the pond of suspects for some races (also marrying different theses), but being a script that has been staged since the beginning of the year (on both fronts) it now captures less attention.

That Mercedes has taken a significant step forward since the end of the summer is a clear fact, which arouses curiosity considering that we are in fact facing cars that have long since completed their development.

By eliminating the item ‘technical innovations’, two fronts remain open: power unit and fine-tuning. That something has been pushed to the limit is also confirmed by the management of the engines, with Bottas mounting the sixth ICE of the season on his car in Austin.

“I think they are weighing risk, respect and reward – commented Christian Horner – it’s very unusual for Mercedes. They have been the benchmark in terms of reliability over the past six or seven years, it’s strange to see them in this situation ”.

It is a game that is played on the wire, with Mercedes in the unusual role of challenger, given that after the great summer campaign in Verstappen she was forced to take risks, with the nightmare that the world championship can be decided by the reliability factor.

“Yes, it could play a key role,” Horner confirmed, smiling immediately after: “I hope so? Well, it depends on who the ‘unreliable’ is! We hope to reach the end of the year with what we have available today, this is our hypothesis. The scenario could change quickly, but with the penalty taken in Sochi we are back in a reasonable position ”.

Sixth ICE also for Hamilton?

The arrival of the sixth endothermic unit on Bottas’ car obviously led to speculation that Hamilton may also need a new ICE before the end of the season.

Hypothesis not excluded by Toto Wolff: “I cannot say now how high this possibility is or give you a percentage, but obviously the risk is there, and the aspect that is more difficult to assess is whether to play and take another penalty or take the risk of a withdrawal and move on. It is still an open discussion ”.

However, not everyone in the Red Bull box is convinced that Mercedes’ progress is linked to extreme use of power units.

“It’s something that has to do with aerodynamics – said Marko – we can’t be precise yet, but it’s not so much about the engine as it is about aerodynamics”.

And Wolff seems to confirm this version: “We were able to understand the weak points of this car in terms of tuning. We have gained efficiency on the straights thanks to the right balance between drag and downforce. We also improved on the fast corners, remaining on par with Red Bull in the slow corners. Overall, the car is now managed much better ”.

No ‘tovata’? “We know that this is a sport in which the opponents will always try to find out if there is a silver bullet that can explain everything – concluded Wolff – my experience is that there never is such a thing. The work always proceeds with many small gains, perhaps individually marginal but which on the whole bring performance and make a difference. We are trying to understand our car better and improve performance, the rest are rumors and we are not listening to them too much ”.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images