Alex Wurz says Red Bull’s dominance this year is about more than just a highly-efficient DRS.
So dominant is the energy drink-owned team that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits there is no chance any team can catch Red Bull in 2023.
"It is not realistic to think that we can close the gap in the short term," he is quoted by De Telegraaf.
"It will be months before we have a car equivalent to Red Bull’s," he added.
"We will simply give everything we have and then see what comes of it."
Some think the secret to Red Bull’s success is a DRS system that is so efficient that, while other drivers struggle in ’dirty air’, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez get a 20kph boost every time they trigger the overtaking rear wing.
Wurz says that’s too simplistic.
"They can run lower than all the others," the former F1 driver, and chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, told ORF.
"That means you can generate more downforce via the underbody than the others and therefore, conversely, you can use less wing and achieve a higher top speed.
"And they are able to do this without getting caught out with the phenomenon of porpoising," Wurz added.
Lewis Hamilton said recently that he thinks Red Bull’s 2023 car is the most dominant he has ever seen in Formula 1.
Former F1 driver Robert Doornbos says that analysis is absurd.
"To hear that from his mouth is special," he told Ziggo Sport, "because his Mercedes, certainly in 2014 at the introduction of the hybrid engines, was so much more dominant than any other car.
"And the extreme time he gained against the others was just by driving in a straight line."
Doornbos also agrees with Wurz that it’s simplistic to ascribe Red Bull’s current dominance with the DRS.
"People forget is that Red Bull has been fast on the straights for the past two years," he said. "So now they are taking a Monza-like wing to Jeddah.
"The Mercedes is not a good car, so what can they do? They need more wing to get more downforce and that creates more drag and less speed on the straights."