© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Valtteri Bottas and Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin both believe Mercedes and Red Bull will run neck and neck throughout the 2021 season.
If the first two races are anything to go by, then we are in for a tight fight between Red Bull and Mercedes is 2021. Lewis Hamilton is one point ahead of Max Verstappen and the two drivers have won a race each.
Although many, including Mercedes, are suggesting Red Bull has the faster car right now, Valtteri Bottas believes neither team is going to dominate the season.
“I think dominating a Grand Prix this year will be difficult seeing the starting point,” the Finn said.
“We’ve seen quite big swings in performance track to track, but you never know. But I can’t see anyone really dominating this year.”
The sentiment is echoed by Mercedes’ chief engineer Andrew Shovlin.
“We know that we need to make the car quicker,” Shovlin said.
“We know that we need to work on all the fine details that I don’t think this weekend we’ve necessarily done a perfect job of and there’s a lot of work to do. But it certainly feels like this is going to be an exciting championship.
“It doesn’t feel like one where either of us are going to run away with it in terms of performance, and we are working hard to develop the car in the next few races and hopefully it will bring some useful improvements.”
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And as far as Red Bull’s superior car goes, Valtteri Bottas believes Mercedes can still catch up.
“I still believe we can catch them,” the Finn continued.
“I still believe from the feeling in the car that there is more to unlock from it. If we can get the balance right, if we can get the car to be more drivable, the true corner balance more reliable – with understanding and fine-tuning the set-up, there’s more to come.
“Twenty-three races is a long time to learn about the package, and it just means we need to be more efficient than the other teams.
“We know Red Bull are good at in-season development but we just need to out-pace them,” concluded Bottas.
Asked if Mercedes has been able to close the gap to Red Bull a bit in-between Bahrain and Imola, Shovlin admits he cannot say for certain.
“It’s difficult to say on a sample of two tracks,” the Briton explained.
“Bahrain’s not always been our favourite circuit, but I think this weekend we’ve been able to put them under more consistent pressure than we were able to in Bahrain.
“I think you could look at the qualifying and say they should have perhaps locked out the front row looking at their laps, but then I’m not sure we got everything out of our package.
“I think we could have done a better job, struggling with it with tire temperature we could have perhaps done a better job there.
“However, two races in it feels to me like there’s everything to play for,” concluded Shovlin.
