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Hamilton, Perez, Mercedes, Red Bull, Styria

Wolff reveals the "immense factor" in Mercedes-Red Bull title battle

Hamilton, Perez, Mercedes, Red Bull, Styria — Photo: © LAT Images

Wolff reveals the "immense factor" in Mercedes-Red Bull title battle

Mercedes is involved in its toughest title battle to date

Sam Hall & Ian Parkes

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has stated the regulation changes from 2020 into the current season are an "immense factor" in the fight with Red Bull.

Last year, Mercedes finished the season 254 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors' standings but after 11 races this term, the gap is only 12 points with Red Bull winning six and Mercedes four.

"One immense factor is that the aero regulations that have been changed from 2020 to '21 hit us much more than Red Bull," explained Wolff in an interview including GPFans Global.

"The fact is that we underestimated, so that is our own mistake, the regulatory change.

"We thought we can compensate for the deficit we had because we had actually quite a big performance advantage last season."

After a tough pre-season test in Bahrain, Mercedes bounced back quickly winning three of the first four races with Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull then struck back with a five-race winning streak but recent upgrades for Mercedes appear to have once again closed the gap between the two title-chasing teams.

"We realised pretty soon in testing that we had a problem, and sorting that out, if you have a sheer lack of downforce, is very difficult," Wolff added.

"We've been struggling a lot with it but slowly but surely we are crawling back, but that is the single biggest factor."

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