'Red Bull has significant advantage over Mercedes power unit in key area'
Toto Wolff's claims of Red Bull Racing having the upper hand on the straights are said to be backed up by GPS data, The Race reports.
Answering GPblog's question in Bahrain, the Mercedes CEO and team boss Toto Wolff claimed Red Bull to be a second faster on the straights.
The Austrian said: "(They) are the benchmark at the moment I would say. And then obviously you have Max in the car, that combination is strong.”
"Look at their energy deployment today. I mean, speaking a second a lap, over consecutive runs.
"On a single lap we've seen it before, but now we've seen it on ten consecutive laps with the same kind of straight-line deployment. I would say that, especially today on the first official day of testing — which always comes with that caveat — they've set the benchmark today," he concluded.
Data suggests the Red Bull Ford power unit's superiority
According to The Race, analysis of GPS traces of different cars confirms that Red Bull was faster than Mercedes consistently on the straights, thanks to a decisive advantage in energy deployment.
In the end, a car with a Mercedes power unit topped the timesheet at the Bahrain International Circuit today. Lando Norris set the fastest time on Day 1 on the first winter test in Sakhir, finishing just ahead of Max Verstappen.
George Russell was the lead Mercedes driver today. The Briton's quickest lap time was a 1:36.108.
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