Mercedes missed out on winning the F1 Constructors’ Championship for the first time in nine seasons this year as Red Bull stormed to the title. The energy drink team’s superstar driver Max Verstappen also secured his second consecutive Drivers’ Championship title, with Lewis Hamilton only able to muster a sixth-place finish as he ended the season 214 points behind the champion. But Hamilton could get his revenge on the Dutchman after Mercedes were offered some valuable insight from Red Bull.
Mercedes’ struggles on the track this season came after cars were redesigned last winter in the wake of a whole host of regulation changes. Red Bull dealt with the changes much better than the Silver Arrows as they quickly found a winning formula.
It was a reverse of what happened after the 2013 season, a year that saw Red Bull claim their fourth consecutive championship double, with Sebastian Vettel racking-up the titles between 2010 and 2013. The Austrian team dropped away after Vettel’s final title and have only been able to re-established themselves as a force in the last few years.
But now Red Bull’s chief technology officer Adrian Newey and team principal Christian Horner have offered Mercedes some hope that Hamilton can topple Verstappen once again by revealing how they dealt with their setback.
READ MORE: Ferrari confirm Frederic Vasseur as new boss
“The championship years of 2010 to 2013 were all with the Renault V8,” Newey told RedBull.com. “We had a great relationship with the engineers at Renault. It’s fair to say they didn’t have the most powerful V8 but it was a product that they’ve tailored to suit our car. We had particular requirements, particularly the way we use the exhaust, and they bent over backwards to maximize what we needed from the engine.
“We then went into the hybrid era and Renault in the first year – 2014 – interpreted the regulations not as well as Mercedes. We were quite a long way behind. In the first year you accept that, we all make mistakes – chassis, engine, new regulations. You can get it right, you can get it wrong. They got it wrong.
“When the engine at the start of 2015 seemed, if anything, worse than the 2014 engine, that was a pretty disillusioning moment. You then realize in your foreseeable future, if you do a spectacular job, you might snatch the odd win here and there. But you’re never going to win a championship.
DON’T MISS
Ferrari target already urging for FIA rule changes in wake of penalty [INSIGHT]
Ferrari new boss ‘buys house near Maranello’ and warned of short life [ANALYSIS]
Ferrari’s potential new team boss hints he could breach cost cap [COMMENT]
“That was a reset that we all had to come to terms with after that period of dominating the second half of 2009 and the subsequent four championships.”
And Horner added: “You learn where your strengths are and your weaknesses are. As Adrian says, during that period it was tough because we came off the back of four dominant championships and suddenly this barren period and another team is just light years ahead of everybody. The most important thing was keeping the team together and focusing on everything we could control, that we could influence.
“Bit by bit we were able to snatch wins here and there in every season bar one. It was always a question of, ‘we’ve just got to make sure we get the right power unit.’ The engine from 2019 was a step forward and we were then able to really start to get the foundations in place for a championship challenge.”
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/mercedes/uncertainty-looms-over-the-future-of-valtteri-bottas-after-audi-speculations-ignite-conspiracy-theories
