Friday analysis: Where has Mercedes’ pace gone? Is Red Bull’s step forward genuine? – ESPN Australia

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Based on that logic, predicting anything other than a Mercedes win at this weekend’s race in Austria — the second in as many weeks to be held at the Red Bull Ring — just might validate Einstein’s point.
The reaction to Fernando Alonso’s sensational return to Formula One, set to take place in 2021 with Renault. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen also joins the show to talk through his Austrian GP.Listen to the latest episode
Yet the raw data from Friday practice for Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix suggests Red Bull are now the favourites and Mercedes has slipped to second. That’s a big turnaround from this time last week, when Mercedes finished Friday with a 0.6s advantage over the rest of the field and looked to have a comfortable margin in the race despite regular Safety Cars.
This week, Mercedes’ best time in the second practice was another 0.6s faster than the equivalent session seven days ago, but Red Bull has found over twice as much to move Max Verstappen 0.043s clear of Valtteri Bottas at the front of the field.
So is there concern at Mercedes? And if so, what has changed?
Red Bull fight back
Mercedes appeared to lose some of its advantage over the rest of the field during Friday practice for the Styrian Grand Prix. Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
The first thing to note is that Lewis Hamilton was not happy with his car in the second practice session when the fastest times were set. He complained of a problem at the rear of the car and inconsistencies in its handling.
When a six-time world champion says something’s wrong, you have to listen. Mercedes responded by sacrificing a large part of the second practice session to check cross weights on the car and review its setup. Finding nothing obviously wrong, the team sent him back out on track with a much more rigorous investigation set to take place this evening in the hope of finding the source of the imbalance.
“It felt relatively normal, but it was quite far off

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