Max Verstappen

Verstappen MOCKS Mercedes idea in Red Bull upgrade comments

Harry Smith Monday 12 June 2023 18:57

Verstappen MOCKS Mercedes idea in Red Bull upgrade comments

Max Verstappen has mocked Mercedes' 'zeropod' design concept after the team moved away from that development path in Monaco.

The Silver Arrows rocked up to pre-season testing in 2022 with a string 'zeropod' design that looked totally different to the rest of the field, but that didn't translate into lap time gains on track.

Mercedes persisted with the concept for their 2023 challenger, the W14, but abandoned the idea with their major upgrade package, which was introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix.

While this upgrade package hasn't closed the gap to Red Bull entirely, the two teams are now much closer following the Spanish Grand Prix.

Max's Mercedes dig

Speaking to the media ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen joked: "I think our next upgrade will be with no sidepods, then everyone can go back.

“But it’s not only the sideboards, it’s a lot of things [which] have come together.

“We learned a lot over the years, and now, with the new regulations, we hit the ground running and understood what was going on."

Both Mercedes cars returned to the podium in Barcelona as their upgrades bedded in

“That helps a lot. Hopefully, we can keep [the] momentum going as everyone is pushing very hard to catch up. From our side, we are never satisfied we always want more.”

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