COATES
New hope for 2021 or another false dawn
for Red Bull?
Red Bull started the belated 2020 Formula 1 season around 1% behind Mercedes on raw pace, a gap not seen at the front of the field since the gizmo-laden cars of the early 1990s. But it has diligently chipped away at the deficit, and Max Verstappen’s win in last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was just reward for all involved.
As Alex Kalinauckas shows in our report on page 16, the victory was a genuine one – the first time the W11 has really been beaten in a straight fight, at the 17th time of asking. In the end, Red Bull’s average gap to Mercedes reduced to just under 0.6% – a fine effort, albeit not enough for a title challenge. So what does this mean for 2021?
On the positive side, Red Bull has traditionally started on the back foot and then closed on Mercedes during the campaign. Given that the cars will largely stay the same for next season, that means it should still be close at the start of 2021. And Mercedes will no longer be able to use the benefit of its much-discussed dual-axis steering.
On the other hand, Mercedes has not bothered with much development on the W11 since the Belgian GP in August. What does it have up its sleeve? And will we see the answer in 2021 or 2022?
For the sake of close competition, let’s hope that Red Bull will genuinely be closer next year. We really want to see the top two drivers in our Top 50 (p37) fighting it out more often in 2021…
Kevin Turner Chief Editor kevin.turner@autosport.com
NEXT WEEK 31 DECEMBER F1 season review special We look back at the highs
and lows of F1’s strangest year
COVER IMAGES Motorsport Images/Cantrell, S Bloxham, Mauger; McKlein; Mercedes-Benz; Williams Racing
PIT & PADDOCK
6 Porsche to return to Le Mans top flight 8 Montoya heading back to Indy 500 10 Loeb joins forces with Hamilton 13 Americans buy into McLaren 14 Opinion: Alex Kalinauckas 15 Feedback: your letters
RACE CENTRE 16 Abu Dhabi GP report and analysis 33 World of Sport: Kyalami 9 Hours
CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 37 Autosport’s top 50 drivers of 2020 64 Pictures of the year 78 The UK’s fastest laps of 2020 80 World of Sport review: WTCR; Australian Supercars; Super GT; Super Formula; Porsche Supercup; Formula Regional European; IMSA; NASCAR Cup; GT World Challenge Europe; ELMS; Euroformula Open; DTM; World Rallycross; Formula Renault Eurocup 90 Christmas quiz 92 Damon Hill’s greatest F1 drives 100 Motorsport heroes of WW2 106 Stories of motorsport memorabilia 112 Martin Brundle’s gi from ‘Santa’
CLUB AUTOSPORT 124 Adam/Howard reunite for Brit GT attack 126 AMOC and BRSCC partner for 2021 129 Opinion: Stephen Lickorish 130 National report: Donington Park 132 Marcus Pye’s moments of the season 136 Top 10 club drivers of 2020 138 Top 10 club rivalries of 2020 140 National pictures of the year
FINISHING STRAIGHT 148 What’s on this week 151 Top five non-F1 stories of 2020 152 From the archive: 1995 Monaco GP 154 Autosport 70: Alonso tops our list
SUBSCRIPTION OFFER 98 Special deals for Autosport
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17-24 DECEMBER 2020 AUTOSPORT.COM 5
