Red Bull were the people’s choice for a win at Bahrain, but it was Mercedes who took the prize home. The Silver Arrows cannot be distracted at this moment as their Austrian rivals have been in a better form the entire weekend.
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher believes that the track at Imola favors Red Bull. The Austrian outfit was in top form in the opening weekend and saw star driver Max Verstappen get pole position. Eventually, Hamilton won a highly-contested race in Bahrain.
Imola is the second track of the 2021 campaign and Red Bull is looking to redeem itself by aiming for its first win this season.
In a recent interview, Schumacher said, “Imola should actually be a Red Bull track. Verstappen was really fast there last year, he only had a technical problem, otherwise, you would have seen a Red Bull upfront.”
He added, “Well, I see Red Bull slightly ahead again. But Mercedes has not slept [as far as the development of the car is concerned]. Bottas was also extremely strong in the race. That will definitely be exciting between the two [Red Bull and Mercedes].”
Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ team principal, was glad to have won the season-opener at Bahrain. However, he is concerned about his rivals pace and thinks they will be difficult to beat.
In the post-race interview, Wolff said, “Bahrain was always not the strongest race for Red Bull, and also they haven’t been particularly good out of the blocks, and this weekend shows that all that is not the case anymore in 2021.
“So I have no doubt that they are extremely difficult to beat. They are the ones that are leading the pack. And I think today the racing gods were on our side,” Toto concluded.
Will the Austrian squad find the pace to beat Mercedes at Imola? Let us know in the comments below!
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