Sunday, 22 March 2015

No manufacturer will ever get close to Mercedes

(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)

Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko believes that no other manufacturer will ever catch the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team with the way the regulations are currently set.

The Brackley based outfit won both the Drivers and Constructors champion last season and completely dominated last weekend’s season opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne’s Albert Park. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton led home team mate Nico Rosberg for a Mercedes 1-2 finish.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, on his debut for the Italian team finished in third place having joined the team from Red Bull Racing over the winter. Dr Marko believes firstly that the apparent boost in performance from Ferrari is not what it seems and they have just improved on where they were last season.

While Mercedes took a lights to flag victory, Infiniti Red Bull Racing managed to get just one car home in the points with Daniel Ricciardo finishing the event in 6th place while Daniil Kvyat failed to start the race as a result of a drop in oil pressure which led to the gearbox overheating.

Marko believes that due to the restriction in developing the new power units meant that whoever found themselves behind in the development of their power unit like Red Bull supplier Renault they would never be in a position to catch Mercedes.

Marko went on to say that as long as you don’t have a Mercedes power unit. It has also been revealed that Red Bull may pull out of Formula One if Dietrich Mateschitz believes that there is a lack of competition in the sport. Marko’s comments come in light of the fact that Renault have made it clear that they may be interested in returning to team ownership in the future. 

© Ben Johnston 2015

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