Mercedes is slow to straighten, but the W12 is not enough to kill the wings

Characters have been turned upside down: Red Bull is fast straight and defending itself in the corners in favor of Mercedes. These are the signs that emerge from the analysis of telemetry comparing Max Verstappen’s best lap with the RB16B, not eliminated from the racing direction due to the wide range of world champions at W12 with Lewis Hamilton. Goes beyond sensors.

In fact Lewis would have printed a 1’05 ”335 that would have thrown him in front of everyone, nominating him for tomorrow’s polar struggle. The hepta-champion was particularly surprised that the Red Bull could express a higher speed than the black arrow: 7 km / h at breakpoint 4 of the turning point, where the speed engine is many and 6 km / h at the 5th turn and 4 km / h at the 7th turn The values ​​are the same as for the Remus, i.e. the infamous twist 3, while the straight end ends dominate only the Mercedes 2 km / h as the Honda engine is forced into clipping, managing the distribution of the electrical energy of the lap hybrid.

The Red Bull itself allows for a highly protruding rear wing, but many argue that choosing a low-resistance aerodynamic configuration is not enough to fit the high power of the Mercedes E-segment. Where did the 15 extra horsepower that recognizes the Brixworth engine go? It is safe to say that they were not found in Spielberg as they were in France.

And Hamilton began to question the power unit, not just restricting himself to criticizing aerodynamics. At the Red Bull Ring we are at an altitude of almost 700 meters and we have to make more use of the properties of the turbo and hybrid system to avoid losing power due to the slightly thinner wind.

The feeling is that the Milton Keynes team can better parcel the resources of the RA621 H power segment, which suggests that the IHI supercharging system is more efficient than Mercedes. But the data for Friday’s free training sessions can’t be taken at face value because we don’t know which load petrol and which engine maps they ran on.

For more accurate ratings, it is necessary to wait to qualify when the values ​​are redesigned: Mercedes’ skepticism is about some of the limitations of the W12, which was proven when a car was introduced, but it has failed to show superiority as the star’s cars have revealed over the past few years.

With this generation of Pirelli tires, the long-wheelbase Mercedes will be less responsive when changing direction than the more compact Red Bull, but what is worrying is that the CX of the black arrow looks higher than in the past.

Pulling is a problem that cannot be solved by reducing the incidence of the wings, and to have the required load, the W12 in Austria adopts a double pylon in support of the rear wing and mounts the T-wing, an easily doable profile without the Red Bull.

So, the balances have changed, but it is not certain that the reserve needle hangs on the side of the Red Bull, even though the team played at home in Spielberg, which has historically not been in favor of Mercedes.