F1 journalist blasts Mercedes for not having 'any clue yet how to do what Red Bull are doing' 

F1 veteran Peter Windsor has called out Mercedes for not having any clue yet about how to replicate what Red Bull has been able to do with its car.

The new set of regulations has left the German unit playing catch up since last season. First, it was the tried and failed zero-sidepod philosophy that left the car porpoising like crazy. Then it was the insistence to continue with the design for the second year running that left the team playing catch-up once again.

Since then, the German team has overhauled its car concept with the upgrade introduced in Monaco. The car has gotten better and has certainly been a contender for the podium.

Lewis Hamilton also secured a pole position for the team in Hungary but overall, the team has not closed the gap to Red Bull to a large extent. The car continues to be unpredictable as well every other weekend.

It was this unpredictability that made Peter Windsor question whether the team had any idea of how to make its package predictable. Touching on the unpredictable nature of the car, Windsor said on his YouTube live stream:

"You’ve got to say, if you’re the factory Mercedes team, the customer teams are uncomfortably close, aren’t they? And when Mercedes have to say post-race [at Monza], ‘Wow, we were the third-quickest car after Red Bull and Ferrari,' it wasn’t that brilliant. I mean, who did they beat? Their customers, basically – that’s not much to write home about."

He added:

“The fact that they are writing home about that just shows you the trouble that Mercedes are in and they don’t seem – on the face of it, what we’re seeing at the moment in the raw evidence – to have any clue yet how to do what Red Bull are doing."

Mercedes is so up and down every alternate weekend

Further talking about the German squad, Windsor felt that the team clearly didn't have any idea of how to correctly manage this. Talking about how Red Bull has excelled and ended up winning every race of the season, the former Williams team member said:

“I don’t think Mercedes have that because if they did by now they would have put it together, I think, and they’re so up and down. The way they describe it is: ‘Well, we have a very small operating window’ – but what does that mean?"

"If Red Bull have an enormous operating window and Mercedes have a tiny operating window, somebody there’s not doing a very good job, that’s all you can say."

The new regulations have been a baptism by fire for the German team. They have been unable to put together a concerted effort that sees systematic depletion of Red Bull's advantage over the last 20 odd months.

While the partnership with Lewis Hamilton has seen an extension for two more years, the team will be hoping for a swifter return to competitiveness.