Mercedes given 'unfair advantage' by Pirelli: 'Had little effect on Red Bull'

Since Pirelli introduced a harder rear tyre at Silverstone, Mercedes seems to have found more pace compared to Red Bull Racing. According to Peter Windsor Mercedes has therefore benefited from the introduction of this new tyre.

Pirelli helps Mercedes

Up until the British Grand Prix Red Bull had been running a strong series, but tyre blowouts in Azerbaijan forced Pirelli to design a new rear tyre. After Max Verstappen had bad luck with his tyre going flat in Baku, he now has bad luck with the tyre that was designed.

"Red Bull are always there anyway because they've been doing this for five years or more, and they trail and error, produce the rear diffuser shape and stiffness from the suspension and everything else, to get it where they want. Mercedes haven't put as much focus on the rear diffuser, because that's not what their car is all about," Windsor says in his new video.

"So when Pirelli produced new stiffer rear tyres, that actually gave Mercedes a leg up, because suddenly they had a consistent 'wall' around their diffuser. It didn't have that much effect on Red Bull, because they weren't far away already."

Bad luck for Red Bull

So in that respect, Red Bull Racing bore the brunt of a new tyre introduced in the middle of the season. According to Windsor F1, the FIA, the teams and Pirelli can never know this in advance. There is hardly any data available on these tyres because they can hardly be tested.

''Because they want the stiffer stronger tyre to prevent tyre failures, Pirelli have produced a tyre that made it slightly easier Mercedes to get the back end of the car to perform at a higher level," the former Williams team manager said.

''As a Red Bull fan, you will probably think 'that's not fair.' It's not fair that Max's tyre went in Baku, and it's not fair that this change affects Red Bull more than Mercedes. Pirelli, however, will say that they are doing it for other reasons and that it is not their problem," Windsor concludes.