Red Bull deliberately chose different strategy: 'Correlation problem avoided'

Red Bull Racing ended the 2020 season on a high. Max Verstappen took pole and won the final race in Abu Dhabi, but does this give false hope for 2021? Mercedes have had their sights set on 2021 for some time now.

It is a pattern that has become increasingly noticeable in recent years. Red Bull Racing catch up with Mercedes during the season, but after the winter the Germans are back in the lead. With minor changes to the regulations for 2021, Mercedes again seem to have shifted the focus earlier, and Red Bull must be careful not to raise expectations too high.

''They (Mercedes) are still the favourite. They had a great car last year and many of the parts from that car are still on it in 2021. We both have our own philosophy. We have continued to develop the car because there are many parts that will go into 2021. We wanted to learn as much as possible,'' Christian Horner told Auto, Motor und Sport.

"We were under the impression that we could learn more about the new floor if we drove it. That's also because we wanted to rule out the correlation problems from last," concluded Red Bull's team boss.