Toto Wolff seems to agree with the Red Bull team about the Mercedes power unit after all. Team principal Laurent Mekies earlier questioned the FIA’s judgment that the Red Bull engine is stronger than that of the Silver Arrows. According to Wolff, Mercedes indeed has the ‘strongest power unit’ on the grid, he says in an analysis of the Belgian GP.
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The FIA surprised the entire paddock last June by placing the Red Bull power unit at the top of the engine ranking. The team thus missed out on valuable development opportunities for the power unit under the new ADUO regulation. Team principal Laurent Mekies immediately questioned the ranking: “We see no evidence that we would have an advantage over Mercedes.”
Team principal Toto Wolff now seems to agree with his competitor during his analysis of the course of the Belgian GP for Mercedes. The Austrian examines George Russell’s retirement. According to the driver himself, this was partly caused by a lack of power in the opening meters. “We lost a lot of constructor points because of this for both the team and George,” Wolff tells Sky F1. “We had a problem with all Mercedes engines: we lacked power on the straights. That hit him hard and that is one hundred percent our fault.”
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‘We have the strongest power unit’
Wolff then makes a remarkable statement. “We are doing our utmost as a team. We have the strongest power unit, a strong car capable of winning,” says the team principal. “Everyone gives their all to minimize mistakes, but they still happen, because we are human after all. We have come up with a product (the power unit, ed.) that is so strong, and I prefer to improve reliability rather than make a slow engine or a slow car faster.”
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Read everything about the Belgian GP here
