McLaren-Mercedes in 2021: Title not in reach, but should Red Bull be careful?
F1 News
In 2021, an old successful partnership will return to the F1 grid: McLaren-Mercedes. From the late 1990s until the moment Mercedes decided to enter Formula 1 with its own factory team, the two brands were almost synonymous. Can this combination revive golden times?
Probably not yet in 2021. We must not forget that McLaren received factory support from Mercedes at the beginning of this century. Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug was always sitting next to Ron Dennis at the pit wall for a reason.
This time, McLaren are nothing more than a customer team. They also achieved success in this role between 2010 and 2012, but the dissatisfaction with the fact that they were still the second choice ultimately made the decision to enter into a partnership with Honda. Hoping to beat the competition thanks to another power source.
Third place is the goal, with a quiet hope for more
Now they are back to square one in Woking and to beat Mercedes, McLaren will have to build a chassis that is at least as good. Since the regulations will change relatively little for 2021, the chance is very small that they will be able to bridge the gap to the top in that sense.
The best McLaren can really hope for this season is a setback from Red Bull Racing. Last season we saw that Mercedes can still get more power from the engine despite their lead, also in relation to the competition.
If that happens again this season, Red Bull Racing will have a serious problem. Aston Martin, but especially McLaren, must then be deemed able to compete with Verstappen and Perez. With their switch from Renault to Mercedes, McLaren will also receive some horsepower as a gift.
This article was written and originally published by Pelle on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.