Red Bull and Perez bought data on the Mercedes engine

Helmut Marko explained why at Red Bull Alex Albon was not replaced by Sebastian Vettl ali Nicom Hulkenberg, but with Mexican Sergio Perez. An important factor in the one-year contract with Perez was his detailed knowledge of the Mercedes powertrain, which was also acknowledged by team adviser Helmut Marko. "The rise of form spoke in his favor," Marko explained. “This year’s season was his best in Formula 1. At the race in Bahrain, where he won, George Russell failed to get closer to him despite his newer tires. With this, Sergio proved that he has improved, as he assessed his speed well and adjusted the pace so that he did not put too much strain on the tires and at the same time did not lose the advantage.

But in addition to his driving skills, his many years of performance with was also very important Mercedes powertrains. “He has spent many seasons with him, so he knows him very well. Nico Hulkenberg last drove the whole season with Renault. In three races behind the wheel of a car with a Mercedes engine, it would be difficult to get useful information, as he focused more on setting up and adjusting the car than collecting data.

Possible engine data they will benefit Red Bull especially now that they plan to take over Honda’s powertrain factory and are seriously considering making their own engines for 2025, plus they will have a lot more work to do with the 2021 season. Ferrari, McLarn in Renault. "It would be logical to expect McLaren to make progress, as they will use Mercedes engines, and they will also make progress with Renault and Ferrari," to me Marko.

"This will mean that we will be eighth and no longer fourth in the qualifiers with a half-second worse round. So you can't help a team with tactical games. Mercedes, for example, was squeezed into a corner in Abu Dhabi as Alex (Albon) drove a good race and drove all the time close to Mercedes racers, who thus did not have the opportunity to play with tactics as usual. We want to become world champions next season, so we need a strong racing team that will be able to achieve all the set goals even during the race itself. ”

Perez, however, is not expected to do so immediately fought with a team rival Max Verstappn, but they want to drive close to it. “Perez will have to be so close to Max all the time during the race that he can overtake him. So far, no one has been able to compete with Max in qualifying, but we expect the gap to be no more than two tenths of a second, or less, as we need to have both racers close to Mercedes so that we can fight them through stop strategies. ”

In other words, it’s Perez’s job to help the team the way he does Valtteri Bottas Mercedes. “I expect Mercedes to be our main opponents. Bottas does his role very well unless he has a bad day like in Bahrain. We expect the same from Perez, ” Marko explained.