Mercedes is at risk of falling out of Formula 1’s top three teams, Dr Helmut Marko has warned. Indeed, Alonso’s Aston Martin outpaced both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton on Saturday – a huge wake-up call for Mercedes’ unique ‘no sidepod’ car concept. “They (Aston Martin) gained two seconds in half a year and their car is half ours,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. Mercedes was already toying with the idea of scrapping its current car concept, with Aston Martin’s step forward now proving the precise problem area. Indeed, while the mechanical basis of Aston Martin’s car is mainly Mercedes, the aerodynamic concept is much more Red Bull-like. “If you compare the cars, you can see that the Aston Martin is most similar to Red Bull,” Marko said.

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