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Priestley sees cause of problems for Mercedes: 'Obviously hurt them'

21:04, 08 Jul 2021

byGPblog.com

Max Verstappen and Red Bull have made great strides this season. So much so that they are currently leading both championships.

Marc Priestley sees the difference between Red Bull's performance this year and last year as huge. However, he thinks it's also because of the problems Mercedes are still having with the aero rule changes that came into effect from this year. In his YouTube podcast he explains why this is such a big and difficult problem.

"It dates back to when we had the aero rule change. It obviously hurt Mercedes, with their low rake car. On a high rake car, the floor is a lot higher relative to the brake ducts. With a low rake car, it's a lot lower. And that interaction between the floor and the break ducts is important."

Why Mercedes hasn't solved the problem yet

You would think that a team like Mercedes would be able to solve such a problem. Well, not according to Priestley. "As a result of this change, the low rake cars have had the most negative impact. The problem is that this can't be changed overnight. If it was, Mercedes would have done it a long time ago. But it isn't. They can't just move their car up, because the rest of the car is built on a low rake system. If you change it, your front wing again doesn't work the way it should. The same goes for your bargeboards."

In short: if the rake is changed, it affects the whole car. And with the all-new cars of 2022 on the horizon, this will probably be a bit too much for Mercedes to change at the moment.