Toto Wolff agrees that there is no comfort for either teams with seven races left in 2021 F1 season, as Christian Horner talks what could favour them.
Even though both Monza and Sochi did not work out the best for Mercedes, they still have a 33 points lead over Red Bull in the constructors’ championship. But that’s not the worry point for them because the drivers’ standings gap is only the two points.
Lewis Hamilton is in front of Max Verstappen, but the might Mercedes circuits is mostly done for the 2021 F1 season, leaving tracks where it could be a mixed bag of results, bringing in Red Bull in the game in what is destined to be a close finish.
Seeing how 2021 has been, Wolff states that he no longer anticipate which circuit will suit Mercedes more or Red Bull. He reckons the swing won’t be too big in the seven races and that neither team can be comforted at any point in the championship.
“I stopped trying to anticipate whether it’s historically a strong race for us, because everything with the new regulations, everything changes, so has changed so much,” said Wolff to written media. “Definitely, we knew that Monza and Sochi would be coming more towards us. And the reality is we are where we are, and this is the points gap.
“I doubt that any of the two teams will make massive swings up or down, it’s just about, really, how can I say, continue to do the best possible job. I think we cannot have, neither drive or neither team can have any comfort in the current situation because there is just no gap in terms of points and I think this is going to go very long,” summed up Wolff.
For Horner, the collective result in Monza and Sochi on the drivers’ championship side was a big relief to be only two points behind. Yes, they are a lot more behind in the constructors’, but he reckons they will a chance to make it up in the upcoming races.
Also, Red Bull is now set to see the season without any engine penalty, while Mercedes is still in two minds. “I think it was like a victory for us in Sochi, to go from 20th on the grid to P2, I think if anybody had offered us that prior to the weekend, we would have bitten your arm off,” said Horner to written media.
“So, to have achieved that, to come away from two Mercedes strongholds with only a two point deficit in the Drivers Championship, again, is, hugely encouraging. I don’t think there’s any circuits that stand out as strongly as Russia and Monza, but, you know for sure Mercedes will be strong, they won in Turkey last year, they’ll be strong there.
“But then we start getting to Austin, we should be there or thereabouts Brazil, Mexico, we’ve always been strong. We don’t know anything about Qatar, we don’t know anything about Jeddah. And then Abu Dhabi so you can say it’s 50/50 in what is was left on the left on the table with which favours slightly one more team than the other,” summed up Horner.
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes livery
Here’s Honda on the PU update
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on taking motivation from being in title fight still
Here’s Toto Wolff on Mercedes power unit situation
