Merc tech boss: Ferrari pace drop ‘interesting’

Shahida Jacobs
Mercedes technical boss James Allison says Ferrari's history is their 'biggest burden'

They are definitely NOT “drawing any solid conclusions”, but Mercedes technical director James Allison admits Ferrari’s drop in pace in recent races is “interesting”.

Ferrari had a purple patch in qualy after the summer break as they started in pole position in six consecutive races, although their Mexican P1 was down to Max Verstappen getting a grid penalty.

However, they have dropped off the pace in the last two races with Valtteri Bottas starting on pole in the United States and Verstappen getting P1 in Brazil.

Their change in fortune also coincided with the FIA issuing a Technical Directive regarding fuel flow, which, according to some, gave them a power boost.

Verstappen went as far as saying “you get that when you stop cheating” after the race in Texas.

Merc’s Allison was asked by Motorsport.com about Ferrari’s drop in qualy pace and he replied: “I think they were still pretty useful on the straights. But not quite as marked as it was [Friday].

“That could be all sorts of things. We all run different power modes on a Friday.

“Probably the only thing that you could stand back from a distance and say is that it’s two races on the trot where it hasn’t been pole position for a Ferrari. And they sort of had a reasonably comfortable margin.

“So it’s an interesting thing, but not anything you could draw any solid conclusions from.”

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