Helmut Marko is wondering why Mercedes isn’t being pegged back as Red Bull were during their dominant period in Formula 1.
Having won six straight double championships since 2014, the Brackley-based team already looks well on course to make in seven after just three races of the current season.
However, drawing comparisons between now and when Red Bull ruled the roost early last decade, Marko noted how Mercedes isn’t facing the same actions by the FIA to outlaw innovations that they did.
“Why is Mercedes so openly demonstrating its superiority?” he pondered speaking with Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.
“In our good years, we didn’t try to drive every race so blatantly far. [Former FIA president Max] Mosley and [ex-F1 CEO] Bernie [Ecclestone] would have slowed us down immediately, which has happened often enough anyway.”
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Of course, one area of contention between Mercedes and Red Bull this year has been the DAS or Dual-Axis Steering system that the reigning champions have pioneered.
Red Bull themselves protested its legality back in Austria to no avail, though it has already been banned from 2021.
For now, however, Mercedes is arguably as dominant now as it ever has been and the Anglo-Austrian outfit believe they have plenty more in reserve.
“We are definitely closer in the race, but Mercedes still have an advantage,” team boss Christian Horner said post-race in Hungary.
“We have some anomalies with the car that aren’t behaving as we expect them to, so a lot of work is going in to understanding that and addressing that for the future races.
“The recovery [in Hungary] I thought was very strong, but still Mercedes have quite a lot of pace in hand as you can see.”
