Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner is of the opinion that Mercedes may have made significant progress with its new drive unit. The Silver Arrows had introduced the upgrade at the Russian Grand Prix on Valtteri Bottas’ car. It was then installed in Lewis Hamilton’s car for the Turkish Grand Prix.
After the race in Istanbul, Horner suggested that Mercedes had made a “significant step” forward with its new unit. According to the Milton Keynes team principal, his title rivals could have an advantage after the upgrade when it comes to straight-ahead speed.
When evaluating the shape of Mercedes in Turkey with the new unit, Horner said:
“Your straight-ahead speed has taken a significant step lately and I think we used to be able to compare it to smaller wings (while) now we can’t get any closer.”
Christian Horner is impressed by the straight-line stability of Mercedes
While Hamilton started the race from eleventh place due to a starting penalty, he still set the pace on Friday and Saturday. Bottas’ dominant win confirmed the Silver Arrows team’s horsepower progress. Although the Turkish circuit prefers the Mercedes, its speed on the straights has surprised its rivals.
Commenting on Hamilton’s performance in Turkey, Horner said:
“Lewis in particular had a clear advantage when driving straight ahead with a larger rear wing on the car. We need to maximize our package as much as we can, and as I said, it’s surprising that they took the step they took with the aggregate. I mean, if you look specifically at Lewis’ straight speed [in the race], it was like 15-20 [km/h] after the bend on the straight. It’s phenomenal. “
How they are going to take on their rivals, the Red Bull Racing boss said:
“We have to find a bit of speed on the straight – maybe they had a different output configuration, but we have to find some speed. And we have some tracks that I hope will suit us, but we know Austin is Hamilton Territory, so we have to be in our A-Game. “
When asked whether the speed of Mercedes was suspicious or even worthy of protest, Horner replied:
“Just for the sake of clarity, we didn’t protest. We asked some questions, as all teams do. [And] It wasn’t just Red Bull, by the way, other manufacturers also raised questions that keep coming up. It is something that the FIA needs to look into in order to monitor the police. “
The Red Bull Racing team principal shook off any suspicions of being suspicious of Mercedes and admired the progress, saying:
“When you have a great straight-ahead speed that is faster than with the DRS open, that’s pretty impressive.”
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While Red Bull Racing started their Turkish GP weekend with balance problems on their hindfoot, they managed a double podium and regained the lead in the drivers’ standings. Despite the abilities of Mercedes in the last two races, one can never ignore the ability of Horner’s squad to go faster at the US Grand Prix in Austin.
Edited by Sandeep Banerjee
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