Mercedes face uphill battle to overtake Red Bull prior to 2026 season
- Rob Fleming
- 1 December 2023
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has candidly expressed the immense challenge of surpassing Red Bull before the 2026 season, deeming it "against the odds".
The 2026 campaign will bring fresh technical regulations, featuring the debut of new Power Units. The most recent technical shake-up occurred in 2022, allowing Red Bull to establish dominance and secure consecutive Drivers' and Constructors' Championships.
Wolff, acknowledging Red Bull's impressive two-year run, applauded their engineering prowess and driver performance.
"Red Bull started these regulations in 2022 with a massive advantage and was able to maintain it," Wolff stated. "You got to have a lot of respect for their achievement from the engineering side and the driver. Beating them under the current (2022) regulations is against the odds, that's clear."
In the pursuit of closing the gap to Red Bull, Mercedes plan a complete overhaul of its car concept for the upcoming 2024 campaign. While Wolff acknowledges the daunting task ahead, he draws inspiration from recent advancements across the grid.
"At the same time, we've seen with McLaren, an update unlocked a second in lap time or AlphaTauri coming strong at the end and Aston Martin over the winter," Wolff noted. "There is a key to unlocking dramatically more performance, and I think, assessing it in an honest way, this car is never going to be good enough to fight for a championship."
Wolff emphasized the need for a fresh start in 2024, acknowledging the monumental challenge: "But Mount Everest is in front of us."
As the 2023 F1 season ends, teams and drivers embark on a break until the new year. Attention now turns to the official F1 pre-season testing for 2024, set to unfold at the 5.412-kilometre Bahrain International Circuit, home of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Scheduled over three days from February 23-25.
