1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve still does not understand why many people compare Red Bull’s current run of success to the Mercedes era, feeling that the stars had a much greater advantage than the defending champions.
The Bulls have so far won all four Formula 1 races in 2023, and last year they only lost five race victories out of 22. Seeing this, in addition to the team’s race car superiority, more and more people believe that the second era of Red Bull has come to an end. It’s after the Mercedes era.
Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve disagrees with these views: he has indicated several times that he felt Mercedes’ advantage was more oppressive, especially at the start of a hybrid race, when he had a greater advantage even with half throttle. From now on with Red Bull Ground Gases.
“Why should we complain about it if it is not as great as Mercedes’ advantage was? – asked the former F1 driver speaking to RacingNews365. “It’s not that big. They weren’t even in first place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. They’re doing better than everyone else. When Mercedes dominated, they could have made mistakes, but they won easily.”
“Red Bull can’t afford to make mistakes. They win because their car is a little better. The competitor gets along better with the engineers, there’s no chaos, no politicization. They’re all moving in the same direction, so they win.”” he added.
“But if they make a mistake, they won’t win. So it’s not clear that they control the field, they’re a little bit better than the others. That might give them a bit of an advantage, but only if the team is working right.” – he continued, then brought up Ferrari as a counter-example, feeling things didn’t want to come together years ago.
“People come and go. Chaos reigns with them, as always. They’ve been falling apart for years. It seems like a never-ending story. When they break down, there’s usually a moment when that process ends. But it seems like it’s happening with them now, too.” It is to explain.
Villeneuve was also asked what he thought of the sprint format, which was not part of Formula One weekends in his time. The Canadian revealed, based on what he’s seen so far, that he loves innovation. “I think it’s very good. It’s good as long as one sprint doesn’t affect the other. It’s been like that until now, and the competitors haven’t taken too many risks. And so it’s almost a 400km long main race, with a red flag after 100km. So it’s Not a sprint. But every day of the weekend becomes relevant, which is good, because Friday is instructive rather than exciting. The sprint concept is great for each unit” – Tell.
