“It annoys me” - Frustrated Red Bull director feels Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ W11 were ‘beatable’

In 2021, Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache once discussed how the team could have beaten Mercedes in 2020. At that time, the Silver Arrows were dominant in F1 before Red Bull gave them a fair fight in 2021.

In January 2021, Wache told Motorsport Magazine how Mercedes were beatable in 2020 and how Red Bull could have won had they found out certain characteristics they missed the previous year.

Alhough he praised Mercedes for making a reliable car, he was confident that they were not perfect in every departmen:

“We missed an opportunity because they (Mercedes) were beatable. If we had found what we find now on the car, we would have beaten them. It annoys me, and we all think the same. They did a good job, to be fair, no DNF etc. But they are not everywhere perfect. and I think we can find more performance than them, even with the engines as they were. They are beatable.”

Before that, Wache also said how Red Bull started changing their car concept after 2019 to gradually improve its performance. He explained how a team needs to take massive risks to create better concepts than their opponents (via The Race):

"Knowing the results of the RB15 against our opponents, if we want to beat them, we have to take risks. The risk is great, but if we want to create a concept that beats that of our opponent, we have to change the current one."

Mercedes dominated in 2020, winning the constructors' championship by 254 points. However, as the Austrian-British team gradually changed their concept and improved, they closed the gap and took the lead. Although Mercedes won the 2021 constructors' world title, too, the gap was reduced to just 28 points.

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Red Bull advisor does not plan to retire just yet

Red Bull taskmaster Helmut Marko recently said that h's not thinking of retiring from the team or the sport just yet.

He said that he will be at a team meeting in Salzburg, but his retirement discussion won't take place there. Furthermore, he expressed his desire to win yet another world title with Max Verstappen. Speaking to Swiss newspaper Blick, Marko said:

"I can only say that on Wednesday I will be at the Red Bull meeting in Salzburg. There, neither my departure nor the sale of AlphaTauri is on the table."

Marko added:

"Talking about my retirement is a bit rushed; my goal is to win my third title this year with Max Verstappen."

Though Marko has clarified that he does not want to retire, there have been discussions and speculations that former F1 driver Sebastian Vettel could take over in the future.