Wolff about the advantage over Red Bull: 'That's a pattern you see every year'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Mercedes was hugely dominant at the beginning of 2020, but during the shortened year Red Bull Racing managed to narrow the gap again and again. As a result, Max Verstappen came closer and closer to Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, which also meant that he often managed to achieve a second place in the race and qualifying. Team boss Toto Wolff expected even more from Red Bull this year.
"We had expected Red Bull to come closer to us towards the end of the season and our calculations were even that they would overtake us in Portimao," acknowledges Wolff to Sky Sports. Mercedes, however, still seems to be the dominant team, because apart from a victory for Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, they have been able to claim all of the race wins.
Lagging behind in Bahrain
Wolff hopes to maintain that lead for next year as well. "We made some preparations yesterday around next year's tyres, which worked well. It did give us a backlog for this race weekend," admits Wolff.
They need to keep the lead that Mercedes still has over Red Bull for as long as possible. "We have kept it up so far. At the end of the year you can see the pattern that we have seen in recent years, that Red Bull is always getting closer and winning races," says Wolff.