F1: Can’t beat them, so Mercedes Team must copy Red Bull

–by Mark Cipolloni–

McLaren’s big jump forward on the grid at the British Grand Prix by copying much of the Red Bull car has convinced Lewis Hamilton that the Mercedes team must do the same (Related article).

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified second and third and raced to second and fourth respectively at the British Grand Prix. McLaren was denied a double podium only by a poorly timed safety car that promoted Lewis Hamilton to a fortunate third place at Piastri’s expense.

It’s almost getting to that point now where they’re going to almost have a complete redesign of the car going into 2024.

Team boss Toto Wolff didn’t put a timeline on the change, other than that it would arrive sooner rather than later.

“I think pretty soon,” he said, per Autosport. “We have no choice.

“P2 or P3 fundamentally doesn‘t impact me and the team. It’s about coming back and being able to win a world championship in that respect. That’s not going to happen this year.

“So we need to set our eyes to next year and then, at all the races to come, learn and develop and make sure that we can carry that forward into next year.”

All teams are restricted to the same annual cost cap and development restrictions based on their position in the constructors standings. Mercedes is second this season, up from third at the end of 2022, so have lost some wind tunnel time for the next six months.

It’s a double-edged sword,” Pit Talk host Michael Lamonato said. “It’s been interesting to hear Toto Wolff talk this year and even a little bit last year about how in previous times he would’ve been free to just spend his way out of this problem.

“We would’ve been talking about a genuine B-spec chassis on the Mercedes had they decided, as they did this year, to completely overhaul the car.

“But it’s not possible under not only the cost cap but even the development restrictions the team have.

“You can see that working [for equalization]. The field behind Red Bull, who have all be caught one step behind, are converging — but you do have one team at the moment under the current system that can’t be caught this year.

“We just have to hope next year the step can be made.”