Mercedes has already shifted its focus to 2021. According to team boss Toto Wolff this is also visible in the results, Max Verstappen never came as close during qualifying in 2020 as he did yesterday.
Red Bull is catching up
"We see a pattern that Red Bull Racing will overtake us by the end of the season", said Wolff quoted by Motorsport-Total.com. "I think it's good for the championship."
The reason why Verstappen came so close in qualifying for the Eifel GP is because Mercedes has already shifted its focus to the upcoming 2021 season. "We are following the strategy and we believe it is the right thing to do to find a balance between next year and this year. You can partly see that in the results on the track," says Wolff.
Exciting end of the season
Because Mercedes is already building the 2021 car, it seems that the end of the season could be more exciting than it was at the beginning. However, this also means that in 2021 Mercedes might start again with a big lead.