Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes trackside performance engineer, says the Red Bull team may not be able to evolve as new restrictions have been put in place for the 2021 F1 season.
Red Bull beat the world champion in Bahrain by almost four tenths of a second to pole position. While Lewis Hamilton scored a narrow victory for Mercedes in the race, this was supported by Max Verstappen, who had a differential problem on his car.
Shovlin is concerned Mercedes won’t be able to beat Red Bull’s core speed advantage this year. The world champions have been hit hardest by new aerodynamic development constraints linked to the teams’ championship positions for 2020. The teams are also limited to specifying the engine this year, so they cannot introduce any upgrades.
“The most important thing this season is that it is different,” said Shovlin. “Normally you would look into the wind tunnel to try and create just a little bit of downforce over the course of the year. You would also look at the PSU and try to find some power. However, both are severely restricted by regulation.
“So we have very little time in the wind tunnel. The test bench is also severely restricted. This year you can’t develop the engine for performance. “
Analysis: The F1 field is closed as Mercedes loses two seconds in four monthsMercedes is therefore looking for other ways to become more competitive. “We need to look at more subtle areas that have to do with drivability,” said Shovlin. “I think we will come to the racetrack well sorted and balanced, do your homework and know how long the tires will run [will help].
“This season I think this championship will be more than normal. I don’t see that we can really develop to a point where we can move forward clearly and hopefully Red Bull doesn’t develop to a point where they can move forward clearly. “
Red Bull has never been slower than Mercedes at the Bahrain International Circuit, Shovlin said.
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“We don’t have any real strengths about them, I would say. We have had many years of relying on straight-line speed or high-speed turns or interconnected turns. If you look at it here, we haven’t taken our time anywhere.
“There were a couple of corners where they really took a lot from us in qualifying: The high speed, also in corners nine and ten, was very strong there. And that’s really the main thing if you think that in qualifying we are only increasing your pace in our best corners and are faster in the others. So we need a faster car. As simple as that.”
While all the teams in Bahrain drove slower than last year, Mercedes lost a lot more ground than their rivals. This is due to new regulations reducing the rear floor dimensions to reduce downforce. It is believed that low-rake cars like the Mercedes were hit harder than Red Bull’s high-rake design.
Analysis: Five factors will determine how close this title fight will beShovlin said “it might well be the case” that low-rake cars suffered more from the new rules. “I know they won the last race [of 2020] But in general we were up at the end of the year and that is not the case now. Either we hit the rules harder or they had a better rate of development because they applied the changes to the rules.
“But it is what it is. We have a car that could win a championship if we make smart decisions, do a good job with it and work well all year round. But whether it’s high rake or low rake or not, there is nothing we can do about it.
“What we certainly cannot do is suddenly say that we will raise the rear of our car 30 millimeters and work with it because that would write off the season. We’d lose so much in the process to restore it, it’s just not practical. “
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F1 season 2021
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