The first week of the 2021 season is over, with Mercedes winning the season opener at Bahrain. But they had a hard time against Red Bull, who has the faster car in 2021. Still, many F1 pundits like Will Buxton believe the Germans have an upper hand over the Austrians because of their strategies.
Recently, the Formula One expert Buxton talked about the season opener, where he mentioned the Milton-Keyne are the favorites of this season and have the best car, but they are behind in strategies to the Silver Arrows.
He explained Max Verstappen and the RB16B should have won the race, but Lewis still bagged the victory with an inferior car because of his experience and strategies.
Lewis Hamilton won his hardest race at the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix. (Photo by Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Button reported on his YouTube channel, “It [Mercedes] is on the back foot and it doesn’t see itself as being ahead of Red Bull in any perceptible area. Although perhaps having seen the result of the race one might say that strategy is an area where Mercedes does still have the edge. They managed to turn around a slower car, an inferior car into a race winning-car.”
Mercedes F1 team is depending on the strategies to win
The German constructors had a poor start in the 2021 season, failing to make a mark in events prior to Bahrain Grand Prix. Whereas, their rival Red Bull was acing in those events and became favorites of the season. F1 fans and experts believed the Austrian team to win the season opener, and they were dominating the first few laps of the race.
However, soon Mercedes and their ace Lewis Hamilton took the lead from Max Verstappen but still had a hard time maintaining that lead from the Dutch racer.
Because Silver Arrows claimed to have a slower car compared to the RB16B and thus they relied on strategies and experience to cover up the places they lacked.
Lewis Hamilton was not letting Max Verstappen take the lead in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Even the Mercedes trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin acknowledged the fact that the new W12 is weaker than the Austrian machinery.“We don’t really have any strengths relative to them, is what I would say,” Shovlin reported after the race settled on Sunday.
The German team agreed they might have fewer difficulties on Imola’s track compared to the ones in Shakir despite that, the advantage won’t let them get near Red Bull.
They would look into ways to tap out the full potential from their machinery in future races. They still have strategies and plans hidden in their sleeves, which will be revealed in upcoming events.
Mercedes claims to further improve their new W12 prior to the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP.
Mercedes is working hard with its engineers and drivers to get ready for the second race of the 2021 season at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on April 18. We can expect them to claim their next victory in Imola but it won’t be that easy to get because other teams are also working hard for the event.
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