Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto believes the personnel changes undergone by Mercedes over the past year may have disrupted the team's stability and led to its current performance woes.
Red Bull Racing conquered its fifth win of the 2021 season in Styria last weekend, courtesy of a dominant display by Max Verstappen that validated once again the upper hand the team currently holds against Mercedes.
Red Bull and Verstappen now lead their respective championships as Mercedes struggles to catch up with its rival and remain in the title fight.
While Mercedes is focused on improving the pace of its W12, Binotto says the outfit's technical shortfall isn't the only distinction at play between the German outfit and Red Bull.
©Ferrari
"Before looking at the technical aspects - and it must be acknowledged that Red Bull has done a great job - I think it is right to point out that they are reaping excellent results because they can count on a team that has been stable for many years.
"Despite having had to face difficulties, despite not having won, they have continued to build a group to try to improve their car. And what we see now is the result of that work.
"If, on the other hand, we look at Mercedes, already in the last year there have been significant internal changes, with roles that have perhaps been revised. Plus the signature with the driver that arrived only in February."
Mercedes' recent "internal changes" alluded to by Binotto include the departure from its HPP engine department in Brixworth of top man Andy Cowell and Brackley's technical director James Allison taking a step back from his engineering role.
Binotto also cast his view on Mercedes' claim that Red Bull's impressive straight-line speed is rooted in Honda's engine gains, an assumption that isn't supported by Ferrari's GPS data according to the Swiss engineer.
"I don't share [the view] of what I hear and read about, because the performance of the Honda engine, looking at the GPS data, corresponds to the performance they had at the beginning of the season in Bahrain," Binotto explained.
"Then, they had to reduce performance due to reliability issues. I think by solving that, they're back to the standards they had at the start of the season.
"There has been no step forward. We, from Bahrain onwards, always had the same level of performance because the engine allowed us to run like that.
"So for Red Bull, it is not a question of having taken a step forward, because that would not be allowed in the regulations."
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