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Updated June 29th, 2021 at 17:55 IST

Mercedes won't agree to Lewis Hamilton's car upgrade demands

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff made it clear that the team will not bow down to Lewis Hamilton's demands to improve the F1 2021 car.

Reported by: Vidit Dhawan
Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton
Image Credits: F1.com | Image:self
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Mercedes F1 have dominated F1 since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014. The Brackley outfit has won both the Constructors and the Drivers' Championships (Lewis Hamilton (6), Nico Rosberg (1)) for seven consecutive years. However, Mercedes' dominance seems to be coming to an end in the F1 2021 season as Red Bull Racing seemed to have produced a stronger car than the pace of the Mercedes. With F1 rules changing from the 2022 season onwards, Mercedes have declined to adhere to Lewis Hamilton's demands to upgrade this season's car.

Lewis Hamilton desperately wants Mercedes to improve F1 2021 car to fight Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing's performance at the Red Bull Ring was there for everyone to see as Max Verstappen dominated the Styrian Grand Prix 2021 from start to finish. The Dutchman eventually beat the Brit by a comfortable 35.743-second advantage to help the Austrian outfit win their fourth consecutive race in the F1 2021 season. After finishing a distant second, Lewis Hamilton conceded that Mercedes had no answer to the pace of the Red Bull.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Speaking to Sky Sports F1, the Mercedes driver said, "I did say it [Red Bull's pace advantage] was around a quarter of a second, I think it was probably that on average at least - even three or four tenths. It was pretty impressive speed that they had. There was nothing I could do; I was giving it absolutely everything. I don't know really where they were gaining all that speed, I think it was everywhere in general, but particularly on the straights as far as I'm aware. They've definitely made some big steps the last couple of races and we've not really got an answer for it."

After having fallen short in the past few races, Lewis Hamilton insisted that Mercedes desperately needed some upgrades if they were to fight Red Bull this season. "We've not brought any upgrades; I don't remember the last time we had an upgrade. But they have. They've brought the engine upgrade and they've brought some other part of the package and it's just eeked them ahead. Whilst there's a really long way to go, with speed like that we've not really got much that we can do. I don't know, we've just got to keep pushing. I've got confidence in the team we'll somehow find something. We need an upgrade of some sort. We need to find some performance from somewhere," said Hamilton.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Toto Wolff insists team is focusing on developing Mercedes F1 2022 car instead of the F1 2021 car

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff was optimistic that the fight for the championship was far from over but made it clear that his team will not put any further resources into developing this year's car. The Brackley outfit has already shifted its focus to developing the Mercedes F1 2022 car as they believe it is the more logical choice to make considering the rules change from 2022 onwards. Toto said, "We have new regulations not only for next year but for years to come. You’ve got to choose the right balance. It would make no sense to put a week or two, a month back on the current car, because the gains wouldn’t be anywhere near the gains we are making on the 2022 car."

Image Credits: F1.com

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Published June 29th, 2021 at 17:55 IST

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