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Fuel supplier Mercedes says they aren't guilty of lower performance in 2022
- GPblog.com
It is clear that Mercedes is struggling in 2022. In several areas, the team does not seem to be competitive enough to compete with Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, but at least it is not because of the fuel supplier. This is what Petronas says in an interview with La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Petronas satisfied
E10 fuel is being used for the first time this season. It meant that the fuel suppliers, together with the teams' engine departments, had to work hard last winter to make the transition smooth. Renstallen initially feared that some twenty horsepower would be lost with the introduction of the new fuel, but in the end the performance turned out to be the same as last season.
This is acknowledged by Andrea Dolfi, Petronas' top executive: "If you ask me whether the percentage of ethanol determines performance, I say no. Ten percent didn't pose any particular problems." When the pink Italian sports newspaper then asks whether Mercedes' problems are exclusively related to the porpoising phenomenon, or whether there are also issues with the engine, Dolfi replies: "I can only say that all the objectives we had set for the engine have been met."
Mercedes no longer as dominant
From 2014, Mercedes was actually the leading factors in terms of the engine in Formula 1. Petronas, of course, played a big role in this thanks to its fuels and lubricants, but as of 2021, the German formation was no longer as dominant as before in terms of engines. Honda managed to take a big step forward and this year Ferrari is right back at it.
What does Dolfi attribute that to? "I don't like to talk about others, but I remember disastrous years of Ferrari and when Red Bull's Honda engine didn't hold up." No more context is provided with this answer, but it seems plausible that the 48-year-old Italian means that it was inevitable that these two competitors would get closer, because they simply missed the boat in previous years.