Mercedes technical director laughs: 'Hopefully it will f*** Red Bull up'

The story is familiar by now: Mercedes missed the mark after the '22 rule change and since then the German team has been lagging behind first only Red Bull Racing and now Ferrari and McLaren. James Allison is in charge at the technical level and with his team he is working hard to improve George Russell and Lewis Hamilton's cars. Meanwhile, he is also watching the competition with a slanted eye.

Allison has watched Red Bull slowly lose their dominant position in the F1 field. The last races in Imola and Monaco were difficult, and Max Verstappen's Austrian team do not see themself as favourite for the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix either. However, Mercedes' technical director does not believe that Red Bull will no longer play a significant role for the rest of the season. "I guess as soon as there's a decent range of cornering speeds, they'll be useful again," he said.

At the same time, Allison - against GPblog - a painful conclusion for Red Bull: "But it does look as if their upgrade was a downgrade. So fingers crossed that will really f*** them up," he laughed. Then he continued more seriously, "That makes life hard because the moment you stop trusting your tools, you have to backtrack, and you lose loads of time."

Mercedes know all about that: "And time is your biggest friend. Losing it is your worst enemy. Everyone loves other people’s misery," concluded Allison, whose drivers were satisfied with the opening day of the Canadian Grand Prix. George Russell even finished the second free practice in second position.