Is Mercedes’ dominance numbered?
Toto Wolff is gloating over the start of the season in which his Mercedes have dominated the scene, taking three pole positions and three victories, including two one-two finishes, with the third missed probably more due to the unfortunate timing of the Safety Car’s entry onto the track, which made George Russell’s Sunday even more of an uphill battle. The Austrian team principal, however, between tactical maneuvering and some awareness regarding the upcoming changes, is not yet claiming victory and instead expects that rivals can quickly close the gap, reopening a championship that to date does not seem all that hard-fought.
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The first date to mark on the calendar is certainly April 9, with the much-talked-about London meeting that could bring changes to the rules and, therefore, erode some of the performance “treasure chest” of the W17. But then there is Miami, the first race after the long break caused by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, as well as the first great opportunity for all teams to start the race for updates that will in all likelihood decide the outcome of the F1 World Championship. Not to mention that the ADUO system concessions that Ferrari is eagerly awaiting will arrive, in addition to the new hot checks on the compression ratio, operational from next June.
Toto Wolff speaks
And it is precisely in relation to the appointment in Florida that Toto Wolff wanted to get ahead of things, almost quoting the words of his friend-rival Frederic Vasseur, who at Suzuka had explained how from the next GP “a new championship” will begin. “Miami will be a new start to the season – explains the Mercedes manager – because we will find out how the updates that the teams have introduced will work. How will we have optimized all the other systems? I think it will be exciting. Teams and drivers are starting to understand how to optimize these systems to their advantage, and we saw a first sign of this in Japan.”
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“During the first two races we were still dominant, but already at Suzuka it was no longer the case. We have always warned people about this aspect, because we have only competed in three GPs. At the moment we look like heroes, but it is entirely possible that we will no longer be so in another three races,” concluded Toto Wolff.
