Red Bull's extraordinary dominance of the Bahrain Grand Prix was "a real cold shower" for their rivals while the race also brought up "a real problem" for Mercedes.
That's the view of Damon Hill after watching how the first race of the 2023 unfolded. Max Verstappen romped unchallenged to victory with Sergio Perez some way behind in second place, but still miles ahead of anyone else on the track.
In contrast, Mercedes received a serious wake-up call. Even after only qualifying, team boss Toto Wolff conceded that his team is never going to be able to match Red Bull if they persist with their current car concept – and the race only served to further highlight the chasm between the two rival teams.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, 1996 world champion Hill pointed out that budget cap rules mean it is probably too late for the team to switch car concepts now. "Maybe there's something fundamentally wrong with the direction that they've gone in," he said.
"And if that's the case, then they've got a real problem. With the cost cap in place in Formula 1 now, they can't just go back to the factory and spend a lot of money redesigning a car. That would also imply they have to abandon what they think they know and follow others who have gone in a different direction.
"And they don't have any information on that, the wind tunnel knowledge... so, a bit of a problem for Mercedes. They might just have to plod on with what they've got now and prove everyone wrong with their design."
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell did a very good job of maximising the team's points in 2022, when Mercedes were also off the pace. But Hill does not believe it will be possible for the two Brits to put up a respectable fight against the might of the Red Bull machinery through their talent alone.
He added: ""You can be as brilliant as you like, but the car does provide you with that opportunity of getting you to the front. You need the thing that gets you into the same bracket as the guys who are leading the championship and that's Red Bull.
" Christian Horner said it was a superb race – it wasn't a superb race, it was a superb performance and demonstration. There was no racing going on at the front at all. They had no competition and they were half-a-minute up the road and weren't even pushing. That's the level of the gap, and it's probably bigger now than it was last year, and that's a real cold shower for everyone."
