Formula 1 Hungarian GP
Mercedes baffled by Red Bull's 'odd' F1 wing choice
Mercedes says it was slightly baffled by Red Bull’s ‘odd’ decision not to use its maximum downforce wing at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Aug 5, 2021, 3:01 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The twisty Hungaroring circuit had expected to play perfectly to the strengths of Red Bull’s RB16B chassis.
However, Mercedes turned the tables on its main title rival – with Lewis Hamilton grabbing pole position and then recovering from a wrong strategy call to finish third on the road.
Mercedes did not have any immediate answers as to why it showed such strong pace over the Hungarian weekend, but was intrigued about Red Bull’s wing selection.
The world champion team had feared that Red Bull could be unbeatable if it went for its highest downforce version – with Mercedes using its extreme version at a lot of tracks now.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: “We thought this is a circuit that should suit them [Red Bull].
“The other thing that always worries us when we come to a max downforce circuit is that we’re frequently running around on our max downforce wing and then they bring it out for the Monacos and for this place.
“But maybe they couldn’t balance that. They went away from it on Saturday and for us it seems odd that you would ever run anything other than your biggest rear wing here.
“We don’t profess to know why they’re taking decisions on that car, but it could be that they were just struggling to get enough front end in it, on the big wing, and they dropped down onto the smaller one.”
Read Also:
- How would F1 have dealt with no cars on the grid?
- How queue-jumping Russell avoided an F1 penalty in Hungary
- The images that reveal Verstappen's missing half F1 car
Mercedes wants to do some deeper analysis as to why its form was better than Red Bull last weekend, with it appearing to have made a performance gain on both the straights and in corners.
“It’s something we need to look at over the next few days,” said Shovlin. “We’re down to sort of pretty small developments now to be honest.
“We did have the update kit in Silverstone and that does look like it’s given us some useful performance. But then the car was working well in terms of where it was maintaining its tyre temperatures and we had quite a nice balance with it.
“But to be honest, we’re surprised by it ourselves. I mean it's a pleasant surprise, but we were surprised to have had that margin to pole for instance.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Brawn defends Alonso's "tough" defensive F1 moves on Hamilton
Next article Wolff: Bottas Hungary crash won’t influence 2022 F1 driver decision
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Red Bull Racing
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 h
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Latest news
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
Retaining Liam Lawson isn't enough – Red Bull must stop treating him like a failure
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
5 h
Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
MotoGP
Qatar GP
You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe