Catching Red Bull now almost impossible for the Mercedes team?
Jul.5 - Max Verstappen insists he is still not even "dreaming" about becoming world champion in 2021.
Red Bull's new dominance of Formula 1 is a major moment for the sport, as the Dutch driver pulls out a 32 point lead over Lewis Hamilton with his pole, win and fastest lap in Austria on Sunday.
Team boss Christian Horner understands the significance of the moment.
"For seven years, Mercedes didn't just dominate Formula 1, they destroyed it," he is quoted by Eleven Sports.
"It took us seven seasons to get back to their level."
Hamilton was not even on the podium on Sunday, but his Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff defended the seven time world champion.
"Lewis is not to blame," he said, insisting that the floor of the British driver's car was damaged.
Hamilton, though, says the lack of pace to Red Bull is obvious.
"We are miles away from them," he said.
"We need all hands on deck. They have brought a lot of upgrades over the last few races and we haven't brought any.
"With the Silverstone updates we will probably improve performance, but it won't be a big enough gain to close the gap," Hamilton added. "They are well ahead of us right now and that's not going to change quickly."
Other than the Silverstone parts, however, Wolff insisted recently that development of the 2021 car has basically now stopped.
"We're sticking to our schedule," Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko hit back, "even if Mercedes is trying to convince us that we'll be two seconds behind next year.
"We have the best driver, the best car and the best engine."
Even so, 23-year-old Verstappen is not getting ahead of himself.
"We shouldn't start dreaming now," he told De Telegraaf.
"I am sure there will still be races in which Mercedes is faster than us. I certainly don't consider anything to be done yet."
Marko, though, revealed the extent to which Verstappen cruised to victory on Sunday.
"Sometimes we didn't drive with full power, but Hamilton did. They try and they still can't get to us. It's a good situation for us to be in," he said.
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher agrees.
"If the next two races are like this, they can get their hook in the title. Given the aero level of Red Bull and the horsepower of Honda, this is an almost impossible task for Mercedes now," he told Sky Germany.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, though, is slightly concerned about the next race at Silverstone.
"We'd love to just keep racing here," he smiled at the Red Bull Ring. "Silverstone is completely different. Mercedes has been hard to beat there."
Marko, however, said: "This victory is reassuring for us because so far our package has won on every type of track.
"If we beat Mercedes at Silverstone, it looks very good for us and we have nothing else to fear. You have to remember that in the past, Max always had to take more risks."
Wolff confirmed reports that, despite saying 2021 car development is over, Mercedes will in fact bring a small upgrade to Silverstone.
"One retirement from Max and we're back in the game," said Wolff. "And I'm convinced that we can find performance not only through new parts but also the setup."
But Marko said: "Mercedes will fight back, but Lewis had it easy in recent years. There was no pressure.
"There is now, and we are increasing that pressure. I think Lewis made a mistake by damaging his car. We stayed away from that.
"Max is also in great shape - he's currently the fastest driver on the grid. And he always wants it to be perfect. That's Max Verstappen."
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So, Christian Horner says that Mercedes destroyed F1. His memory is obviously selective as, in my opinion, Red Bull did exactly the same thing with Seb's 4 straight titles.
Of course Lewis to blame , if he'd not damaged his Aero, he'd have had a better chance to try and win, by saying he isn't to blame just makes the argument even more ridiculous.
2nd point , about one dnf for Max and MB are back in the hunt, yesssss but equally one less tyre blow out for Max and hed be even further in front, Toto clutching at straws a bit i feel and Lewis seems as i think a couple of other posters have said has thrown in the towel for 21, well that's fine if you've just re signed for a potential 2 yrs i suppose
And finally , if RB had brought a lot of updates over the last few races , I think Doc/Christian or Max might have mentioned it ,Don't you Lewis .
The level of Bullshit from everyone this year is off the scale
The level of Bullshit from everyone this year is off the scale
the award goes to tonto and hamas ,full of it
With a distant 3rd place 90 points behind is Dr Marko , a long way behind on points but still 3rd place (off topic) for the wet nose brigade
I don't agree Linda. Don't you know 2010 and 2012 were one the most exciting seasons of this century. Especially 2012 was outstanding with 7 different winners in the first 7 races! 2010 was great because the last race decided who became champion and Vettel wasn't even the favourite. Ferrari made a huge strategic which was the reason why Alonso didn't win his 3rd title.
F1 have got there wish and RBR will win the championship this year and the constructors without any competition. Max stands to win 23 races including the sprint races and it will be all over before the summer break. At least the Mercedes team had a fight amongst themselves with their drivers. This is embarrassing for F1 and people are turning off TV in droves as it is a single competition.
no-one turning off here.cant wait to see the next race.is that your opinion or more false news
If anyone is turning off is it the Hama's fans .fair weather fans maybe
With respect John, maybe your turning off, but I can tell u, after years of get in there Lewis, boring domination, I have been on the edge of my seat for the first time in years..I don't know what your watching??
Well put. JJ. I'd like to see the midfield make that last step forward, but I don't know anybody who is turning away from our sport.....at least not right now. If it remains a two team fight (with an occasional interloper) 2022 and forward that might change, but this has been a pretty darned good first third.
I totally agree..but first, the positive, at least its a 2 team fight and not the yawnified(yes its a word now!) MB Hamilton one man band..second, did you see Lando Norris?? Wow, what a qualifying, and what a race..the break last season did him the absolute world of good, because he is a force to be reckoned with since..the penalty on the first lap was farcical, and again these rules are making a laughing stock of F1..its akin to penalising a football player for kicking the fing ball too hard..its racing isn't it?? Are we going to let them race? These auld fellas posing as stewards need to go..do they judge how dangerous a manoeuvre is on how fast it triggers their pacemaker or what??
You had me right up to the 'old' comment. See name above. I'm hurt. Though fairly logical, I too ignore some facts and data, age being the biggie. LOL and smiles
Really old racer..it says auld, which is the Irish collective noun for a group of creatures who are devoid of making rational judgement..and in no way refers to age, therefore no offence was implied to persons of a similar generation..I hope this sufficiently clears the matter up..I would hate to cause offence..kindest regards
Nice attempt at mollification, JJ, but I looked it up....Scottish adjective for old. Still I like your reference and accept your kindest regards. Don't receive many of those.
Besides upgrade parts, Lewis's mojo typically peaks in the second half of the season. Seemingly after some R&R. So if past is prologue, Max is wise to temper enthusiasm at this stage about beating him to a title.
Yawn..mojo..its not a nightclub??
He's not trying to impress a 'bird'..I'm scarlet for ya..
Hes driving a formula 1 car..or did I miss something?
JJ, unsolicited advice: Don't get JAXaward started, he doesn't respond well to data, facts and logic.
Ha!! Thanks I'll keep that in mind and try and speak in a language he can understand in future..mojo..pfft..
Unfortunately i've been banned from communicating with Jax, i'm ok with f1 , hes easy enough but the court said i wasnt to communicate with "The Jax" as the European court of Bullshit calls it, its a lifetime ban so silver-lining and all that .
Well, judging from Jaxs mojo comment, I think he mistook this site for the Love Island thread or something....
"Max Verstappen insists he is still not even "dreaming" about becoming world champion in 2021."
I appreciate VER's new maturity and humility but, come on Max, you've been dreaming of this since you were 8 yrs old. Shout it up a bit kid.
"Lewis is not to blame," he said, insisting that the floor of the British driver's car was damaged.
And who is responsible for damage Toto, BOT???
Well to me its obvious , its a Red Bull owned track , so Docs been out there early with a file and he sharpened up the kerbs a bit , Told Max about it and, hence we have what we have, easy yes ? i smell an Fia protest coming from Toto over this lol, ive said it somewhere else but im sure the upgrades MB are planning are just new Pro-Bottas wheel nuts for SS .
Hamilton can always say: "I think Ericsson hit us!" :-)
LMAO. I forgot about this one.
Seems I've transcended this forum. Much obliged. 😎. I get that Old fella had rattled nerves due to me but some have to learn the hard way. And Fly has adjusted his childish tone somewhat although foul language seems an issue for him. So Moderator/s....unless you have sticks up your posteriors, lighten up.
We are finally seeing the competition catch up and in RB's case pull ahead? In F1 parlance, that means its time for more engine rule changes. that will keep the big teams up front and the smaller ones stuck forever mid field. I wish they would leave it alone for a while so that the sport was more predictable for the teams and less predictable for the fans. And "lets not start __ each others __ yet gentlemen" as the Wolf(I'm not talking about Toto) would say. There are a lot of races left!
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