Mercedes told to pull unsporting trick to eventually beat F1 rivals Red Bull

17 June 2023 , 06:00

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Team boss Toto Wolff is leading Mercedes' charge back to the front (Image: Getty Images)

Mercedes might be able to get the better of Red Bull – by purposely scoring worse results for the rest of this year.

That would be the course of action Damon Hill would take if he were in charge of the Silver Arrows. As the Sky Sports pundit points out, they remain some way off Red Bull's car performance despite their improvements in Barcelona.

They secured their first double podium of the year at that Spanish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton crossed the line second while team-mate George Russell drove from 12th on the grid to join him on the podium.

The track certainly suited their car, and team boss Toto Wolff admitted as much after that race. But it was still evidence that their recently-introduced upgrades seem to be having the desired effect.

That will help them in their fight for second in the championship. But they remain some way off runaway leaders Red Bull – Max Verstappen was still very much untroubled by the Brits in Barcelona.

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Red Bull are, of course, improving themselves. However, although the performance gap will naturally close as the season progresses, it seems unlikely Mercedes will get within striking distance of the leaders.

With that in mind, Hill thinks they should take the unsporting route. Instead of going all out to compete as best they can, the 1996 world champion thinks they should finish lower in the championship on purpose.

Damon Hill thinks Mercedes should give up on this season to give themselves a better chance of beating Red Bull in the future (Sky Sports)

The lower a team finishes, the more wind tunnel testing time they are given the following year to improve their car. And Hill thinks Mercedes should use that system to their advantage to give themselves a better chance in 2024.

He said: "Ironically, the better Mercedes do [in 2023] the less scope they've got for the following year. You kind of wonder whether Mercedes ought to be thinking about doing really badly between now and the end of the year.

"I think when you've got the budget and you can spend it but you can't because you did so well the previous season, then it kind of makes you wonder whether you ought to do really badly. If you're not going to win this year, you want to win next year."

Daniel Moxon