This season it looks like Red Bull and Mercedes have come closer than ever. Lewis Hamilton took the win in Bahrain. But Max Verstappen was close to taking the win. The changes in the regulations seem to be bad for Mercedes.
As it stands, the new aerodynamic rules seem to be affecting the teams with a low rake. The rake is the angle at which the floor slopes from front to back. Mercedes has a low rake which means the car is more aerodynamically efficient. Red Bull on the other hand uses a high rake. They increase the downforce under the car.
Red Bull approach not possible for Mercedes
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff thinks his team can't copy Red Bull's approach he tells the Official website of Formula 1. "It's not physically possible. We couldn't run our suspensions and setups the way Red Bull does and so we have to make the most of it and tune the car to what we have at our disposal."
Therefore, the German expects a tough fight with the Austrian competitor. "It might be harder for us to regain some of the lost downforce - but so far, what I've seen, and what I hope is that we can have a really hard fight [with Red Bull]."