Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has calmly responded to the increasing chatter about Red Bull’s escalating technical collaboration between its two Formula 1 outfits.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has calmly responded to the increasing chatter about Red Bull’s escalating technical collaboration between its two Formula 1 outfits.
The spotlight has been on the heightened exchange of components between the energy drink giant’s principal team, Red Bull Racing, and its sister team, Alpha Tauri.
Christian Horner, the chief of Red Bull Racing and a key Wolff nemesis, has robustly refuted suggestions that this partnership mirrors the ‘pink Mercedes’ controversy involving Racing Point in 2020.
Despite these denials, the scale of component sharing with Alpha Tauri in 2023 has been significant, as reported by Auto Motor und Sport. The publication highlighted it as the “largest upgrade workload of all the teams” for the year.
Michael Schmidt, a correspondent for the magazine, noted, “In 18 of the 22 races, new parts were added to the car with a total of 65 detail changes, including ‘six new floors alone’.” This substantial upgrade has not gone unnoticed by competitors, with Williams’ boss James Vowles acknowledging Alpha Tauri’s enhanced performance.
“They clearly have more downforce than us now,” he admitted, adding that Williams chose not to engage in a development race with Alpha Tauri towards the season’s end. “If we had tried, we might have won today but lost out tomorrow,” he explained.
Amidst these developments, the question arises: is Mercedes, a key rival of Red Bull, perturbed by this stronger technical alliance? Wolff, keeping his composure, shared his perspective. “I have to be honest,” he said, “I only saw that (Yuki) Tsunoda was sixth in qualifying in Abu Dhabi, which makes me happy for the Alpha Tauri fans to end the season on a high.”
Addressing the media, Wolff expressed his lack of concern over the situation. “This is a transparent world,” the Austrian elaborated. “I haven’t looked at any of the parts yet but I’m sure others will. But to be honest, I haven’t thought about it much.”