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How Red Bull plans to beat Mercedes at its own game

How do you beat a team like Mercedes?

That's the question Formula One's nine other teams have been asking themselves for the past seven years and, for now, no one has found a definitive answer.

Money certainly helps, but the quantities needed to compete at the very top of the sport have ruled out at least seven of Mercedes' nine rivals in recent years, with Red Bull and Ferrari the only two teams with similar spending power.

A new budget cap (introduced this year, at $145 million for 2021) and new technical regulations aimed at closing the gaps between teams (due to be introduced next year) should lessen the importance of a team's budget, but it will take time to level the playing field.