Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff is wary that Honda, their biggest engine rival will ‘give it a big go’ in its final engine supply partnership with Redbull in 2021.
The Mercedes boss has put a huge emphasis that his team cannot afford to let their guard down for the 2021 Formula 1 Season because their hugest engine rival, Honda will ‘give it a big go’ in its final campaign supplying redbull with power units.
The fifth 1-2 finish for the Mercedes team at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sealed a seventh title for the Constructors championship for Mercedes despite four more races remaining in the 2020 Formula 1 Season. The team also has guarantee to win the driver’s championship with Lewis Hamilton as he has dominated by winning all but two of the 13 races held so far.
It will be expected that Mercedes will carry on their performance advantage to 2021 as the Formula 1 teams will be expected to continue using their current cars after development was restricted in a bid to cut costs due to the financial impacts of the Corona virus pandemic. Mercedes have already stopped developing their 2020 W11 car as Redbull on the other hand have recently made improvements that have made Max Verstappen step up his challenge.
Honda have also admitted working on developing a new power unit as a part of a bid to top the charts on its final Formula 1 journey in 2021.
Wolff was asked if he was worried about Redbull’s rise in performance and he replied, “We always worry, because you can say that this season was probably our strongest and with the biggest gap, but there was rarely more than three cars in front.”
“Max is also doing a fantastic job. He’s probably driving better than the car is actually capable of bringing. It’s like a deja vu every single weekend where you have these three amigos out in front and he’s just clinging on with his finger tips to the Mercedes.”
“Therefore next year, Honda is going to give it a big go I guess in the last season, and everybody at Red Bull is going to be motivated. Last but not least, Max.”
Toto Wolff also added that everything is being done to try and stop the Mercedes dominance when the next major regulations overhaul will come in to force from 2022. It includes an all-new car, budget cap and revised prize money structure.
“Next year will be a transitional year with the same machines,” he explained. “As I’ve said before, I expect Honda to give it a big push.
“And then obviously this big challenge of 2022 is on the doorstep. That will motivate us.
“Everything has been done to stop us. We will all fight on a level playing field financially and everything is pretty much capped.
“I’d like to see us continue to perform well, even through this most dramatic regulatory change that has ever happened in F1.”
