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Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff believes his team can close the gap with Red Bull Racing potentially but in order to do so it will have to be perfect and ‘double the development speed’.
Mercedes TP Toto Wolff and Red Bull TP Christian Horner. Image Credit: Red Bull Content PoolRed Bull Racing has been so far untouchable by other teams on the grid. While other top teams like Mercedes and Ferrari are struggling to completely adapt to the new regulations, on the other side Milton Keynes seems to have simply found the perfect package.
According to Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, a continuation of Red Bull’s dominance until 2026 is a ‘risk’. Yet, the Austrian is ready to fight to get back to the winning spot, as quoted by RacingNews365.com: ‘But this a cost cap World Championship, this is a technical World Championship and a sporting World Championship, and we will look at all the angles that there is in order to optimise our relative performance to Red Bull to give them a good run for their money.’
Mercedes’ strategy: ‘Double the development speed’
However, in order to even potentially reach the Bulls, Brackley will have to be able to completely steer the boat around. As a matter of fact, Wolff stated: ‘I think the lag is probably between six and 12 months because that’s the time it really took for us to figure out what was actually happening with the [2022] car.’
He then went on to explain his strategy: ‘That means we just need to double the development speed, a stronger development slope which the logic and rationale speaks for it, that we could have [it]. [Red Bull’s] gains are going to be incrementally smaller if their concept is mature.
‘Aero-wise, wind tunnel time can help a bit but not hugely, and we’ve just got to get our act together.
‘If we fundamentally understand where we need to put the car, then the steps are going to be large, but we need to be perfect.’
Headline Image: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
