Mercedes eye-off-the-ball "concern" in F1 title fight with Red Bull

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Mercedes eye-off-the-ball "concern" in F1 title fight with Red Bull

F1's new regulations for 2022 are hindering 2021 battle

Ian Parkes

Tuesday 18 May 2021 05:16

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has revealed an area of concern as the fight for this year's F1 titles with Red Bull grow in intensity.

On a rare occasion since the introduction of the current turbo-hybrid rules in 2014, Mercedes finds itself under threat from a rival team.

Such a battle comes when both teams are trying to manage a budget cap for the first time and in a year when major new regulations are being introduced from 2022.

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Wolff concedes that in attempting to cope with the challenge from Red Bull, the eyes of the team might be distracted when considerable focus needs to be placed on next year.

Asked if that was a concern, Wolff said: "Always a concern because getting the balance right between the current year and next year is a tricky situation every year.

"But this time around it is particularly difficult because there is such a big regulation change for next year.

"It's a constant dialogue inside of the team as to how much resource is switched over and when."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner naturally faces the same dilemma, which is arguably more problematic given the development of the new powertrains department.

Asked whether there was a temptation to pull more resource for this year knowing a tiny performance gain could swing the championship, Horner replied: "The team is doing a really great job at the moment.

"The fact we’ve probably managed to out-develop all other teams from our starting point last year, adapting to these new regulations, is testimony to the teamwork going on in Milton Keynes in obviously what have been trying conditions for everybody.

“We need to continue to develop this car but also have to be mindful that there is a completely new generation of car coming for 2022.”