Advantage for Verstappen at Silverstone: 'Mercedes has too much downforce'

Despite the triple header dominance of Verstappen and the five consecutive wins of Red Bull, Mercedes still have a very good car. The team can play with the setup like no other to get the most out of the car.

Peter Windsor explains in his video that Mercedes are slower on straights than the other teams that also have a Mercedes power unit. There is a specific reason for this.

"Mercedes is not as fast on the straights as the other Mercedes teams in F1. That's because they have more downforce. At some of the circuits we've had, Mercedes can adjust it so that it works for them and they can get a good lap time out of it. That worked particularly well at the French GP. It worked quite well in Austria as well. They didn't win, but they came close to Red Bull."

Problems for Mercedes at Silverstone?

Windsor believes that the circuit is not really made for the Mercedes car. According to the Brit, this is also due to the present downforce that Mercedes has.

"At Silverstone you have parts of the circuit where Mercedes goes full throttle and McLaren for example also goes full throttle, but McLaren will be faster there because they don't have as much downforce. McLaren can still go full speed through copse, Mercedes can't. There's more time around Silverstone for a McLaren (with less downforce) to win on a Mercedes (with more downforce), but it's not as fast on other parts of the circuit. Red Bull is."

Hamilton and his team will be hoping to end the dominance of Verstappen and Red Bull at home. Should the Dutchman and his team win, then both Red Bull and Verstappen will only be further ahead in the battle for the championship.