McLaren team boss puts complaining Mercedes in its place: 'Can laugh about it'

With the introduction of new aerodynamic rules this season, Red Bull Racing seem to have a better package than Mercedes. For the championship team, there are reasons to complain about the new rules and even talk about targeted disadvantages.

With the introduction of the new rules, Red Bull's high-rake concept [the car's angle of attack] seems to be working better than Mercedes' low-rake concept. Mercedes have been complaining about the new rules being introduced to disadvantage Mercedes, which Red Bull have been arguing against.

McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl thinks Mercedes' complaints are not based on anything, he told RTL/ntv. "I can only laugh about it. I think it's difficult for any team to judge whether now one philosophy or the other is more affected by the aerodynamic changes. In the end, we all had our concept from last year as a basis during the winter. Nobody can compare the two concepts."

Seidl does not think Mercedes will fall behind in the battle for the world championship. "You have to wait and see in the next races how the balance of power will organise itself, but I am sure that after a race weekend like Bahrain, where Mercedes still won in the end, they will fight back mercilessly in the next race."

McLaren has been driving the Mercedes engine since this season, which Seidl is very happy with. He is also pleased with the cooperation with Mercedes. "We believe we now have the best available engine in the back. It is a super good reference for us. We also have a top driver duo on the grid. So we know exactly what we still need to achieve as a team in the coming years to be able to compete at the front."