Until 2020, the story of the season was quite straightforward, with Mercedes dominating the first half before shifting their development focus onto the follow-up season. Meanwhile, Red Bull and Ferrari would continue to bring in upgrades hoping to end the season on a high note.

However, come 2021, there was a twist in the tale; It was Red Bull that led the fight until summer break, pulling off dominant victories.

And then arrived Mercedes with their mind-blowing engine updates that upped their pace quite substantially, leaving the Milton Keynes outfit scrambling for performance in a bid to keep Max Verstappen in the title race.

These crucial updates were the prime reason Mercedes managed to secure their eighth consecutive constructors’ championship title.

Of course, they weren’t able to win Lewis Hamilton his record eighth title. But, the fact that the Briton was able to go equal on points with Verstappen ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP was proof that the team had persistently worked hard over the course of the season.

Red Bull admits working on RB16B longer period

Dr. Helmut Marko, head of the Red Bull driver development program, admitted that Mercedes’ unexpected engine update during the business end of the season forced Red Bull to develop their RB16B beyond the target time. The Austrian further revealed that Mercedes managed to make a huge leap on the electrical side.

“We had to develop because Mercedes also took a step with the engine. On the electrical side, they were able to mobilize more.

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“For example, after a restart for one or two laps. Then they had more energy available,” he said according to Auto-Motor-Und-Sport.

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Fairly newer design led to defeat against Mercedes

Marko opened up that the 2021 Red Bull car had quite a few newly designed parts. And this consequently caused the team to struggle with finding the right setups within a short period of time. Mercedes, on the other hand, were still using their previous year’s car.

Hence, they continued to get the setups right, handing themselves a significant advantage despite owning a much slower car.

“It was more difficult for us to do the set-up work. We no longer achieved results that targeted. Mercedes got the setup done faster. And they had the car better in the tire window. In qualifying, Max was able to make the difference. In the Racing trim, the Mercedes was the faster car,” he said.

Overall, Red Bull and Mercedes finally brought back the flavor of rivalry into Formula One after quite a long time. But, the question is, will the steam remain the same heading into the highly unpredictable 2022 season? We’ll know soon enough.

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