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Formula One F1 – French Grand Prix – Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France – June 20, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in action during the race REUTERS/Yves Herman
Reuters
Formula One F1 – French Grand Prix – Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France – June 20, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in action during the race REUTERS/Yves Herman
The 2021 Formula One season witnessed Mercedes lose their first drivers’ championship title since 2014 when Lewis Hamilton laid his dominion over the hybrid era. And of course, the defeat arrived in the most bizarre fashion, with the stewards being the sole reason behind the seven-time world champion’s heartbreaking end to the Abu Dhabi GP.
Hence, after enduring such a dreadful season-ender late last year, the entire Brackley outfit will be aching to pull off a strong campaign in 2022 and reclaim their throne from Red Bull Racing.
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However, quite interestingly, even before the season has begun, Mercedes have lost yet another distinction against Red Bull. One might acknowledge that this hardly has any effect on their on-track performance. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at how Red Bull have superseded their rivals this time around.
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Formula One F1 – Mexico Grand Prix – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico – November 6, 2021 Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas celebrates pole position with Lewis Hamilton Pool via REUTERS/Francisco Guasco
Since 2012, Mercedes have always been a part of this particular stat. And the only time they weren’t was when they signed Valtteri Bottas as Nico Rosberg’s replacement in 2017. Yet, they reclaimed it soon after, following Bottas’ race win at the 2017 Russian GP.
Well, four years later, the Silver Arrows have yet again lost the distinction.
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How did Mercedes lose out to Red Bull?
Until December 2021, Mercedes were one of the three teams to own drivers with a history of at least one race victory in Formula One. While Hamilton had 103 race wins in the bag, the number was around 10 for his Finnish teammate.
However, following Bottas’ switch to Alfa Romeo and the consequent arrival of George Russell, Mercedes no longer find themselves sharing the stat with Red Bull and Alpine.
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Formula One F1 – Hungarian Grand Prix – Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary – August 1, 2021 Alpine’s Esteban Ocon celebrates with teammate Fernando Alonso after winning the race Pool via REUTERS/Florion Goga
Red Bull have Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez as part of their drivers’ line-up with both owning race victories to their name. And, well, Alpine were the latest entrants, as they only managed to accomplish this feat following Esteban Ocon’s race win at Hungaroring earlier in 2021.
Overall, it is unlikely that Mercedes will stay away from this distinction for long, especially with a young, feisty driver like George Russell waiting to get his hands on the W13. One race, maybe two races, and Russell could well find himself chasing after the first-ever race win of his career.
Read More: Why Do Mercedes Dominate F1?
