梅塞德斯告诉“燕子”红牛成功后recent ‘Wikipedia’ jibes

Former F1 driver Gerhard Berger believes Mercedes have to “swallow” Red Bull’s recent dominant run, in the wake of recent jabs made by Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton claimed Max Verstappen has not had team-mates as strong as he has had to face throughout his career, while Mercedes team principal Wolffappeared somewhat dismissiveof the Red Bull driver breaking the all-time consecutive win record at Monza, claiming “it is for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway.”

When presented with those comments, Berger believes it’s good to hear these comments play out in Formula 1 – but having been at the top of the sport for so long, Mercedes aren’t at the moment and have to “swallow it.”

Gerhard Berger: Mercedes have to ‘swallow’ being behind Red Bull

Mercedes have won only one race since Formula 1’s radical change in technical specification last year, George Russell taking victory at Interlagos last season, while Red Bull have won 31 in the same period.

Verstappen broke the record for the highest number of races won in a single season last year and is well on course to do the same again this time around, while Mercedes are in second in the Constructors’ standings.

沃尔夫和汉密尔顿在蒙扎的言论sparked plenty of debate in the Formula 1 world about how Red Bull’s achievements should be viewed, but Berger believes Mercedes had their own share of similar comments pointed in their direction during their dominant years – and now is their time to try and get back on terms.

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When asked on the F1 Nation podcast if Hamilton and Wolff’s comments were necessary, Berger replied: “Of course not. But on the other side, thank God we have all these kinds of discussions, what should we talk [about] now if they all would just be very streamlined and never [made] any critical comments?

“In some ways, they’re a bit frustrated, too, because the seasons are not running as they would like to run.

“And then in the right moment, the wrong question gives some statements like this, but at the end of the day, they’ve been highly competitive over so many years. And at this time, others maybe made some comments like this, and now they are in a different situation and they have to swallow it.

“Let’s say it this way: Lewis says Max doesn’t have a very strong team-mate, but would Lewis be happy to try Max in the same team? I doubt it.”

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