An avalanche after the gaffe
It was predictable that the television gaffe by Toto Wolff, who admitted at the end of the Belgian GP on Sunday that Mercedes has the best power unit on the grid – despite the ‘contrary’ opinion of the ADUO ranking which awarded Red Bull the title of best engine (at least regarding the thermal part) in circulation – would trigger reactions and discussions.
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The first to comment, albeit briefly, was Laurent Mekies, Red Bull team principal. It couldn’t have been otherwise, after all, since the French manager is trying everything to convince those who make the evaluations on the competitiveness of the power units on the grid that no, the one made in Milton Keynes is not currently the best engine in F1.
Toto is right…
“Toto said that Mercedes has the best power unit? I think Toto is right – Mekies observed during the traditional post-race press conference held in the Mercedes hospitality – I also think they have the most powerful engine. And surely this weekend they again had a significant advantage on the straight. But it’s not the first time, since most weekends they have an advantage on the straight. This weekend a bit more given the peculiarity of the track. So we’ll see what happens. In a week in Budapest the second phase (for the ADUO ranking evaluations) will close. We’ll see what happens”.
Less analytical and definitely more caustic was Max Verstappen, answering some questions from Sky Sports again regarding the power unit issue. “Will Mercedes be able to update the engine? I would also really like to have an engine update, but it’s not in my hands. Apparently it seems we have the best engine, but when you go to qualifying it doesn’t really seem so? Or am I wrong?“. Difficult, on this point, to disagree with the four-time world champion.
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