Could Mercedes win every race of this Formula 1 season?
Toto Wolff, their Formula 1 boss, first laughed at the question after the team’s fifth consecutive one-two in five races this year, and said: “Don’t say that” – because he was worried about ‘commentator’s curse’ – then said: “No.”
“First of all,” he said, “you need to stay humble and keep both feet on the ground. We have had five fantastic performances and five one-twos but we don’t take it for granted. It is not just saying it. It is really the mindset we have.”
It is the mindset that has created arguably the greatest team in the history of Formula 1. Wolff also said in Spain over the weekend that Mercedes’ focus was on winning their sixth consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ championship double – which would break the record of five that Ferrari
and Michael Schumacher established at the start of this century.
After their crushing performance on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, that already looks close to a certainty.
Lewis Hamilton took back the championship lead from team-mate Valtteri Bottas after beating the Finn away from the line and dominating the race thereafter, and heads the Finn by seven points.
The more relevant number at this stage is that Hamilton is a massive 46 points ahead of the closest non-Mercedes driver, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with the Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc close behind.
That is already nearly two clear race wins. After just under a fifth of the season has gone. When Mercedes have the best driver, in the best car, run by the best team, it’s hard to see how anyone can come back from that.
The huge advantage the Mercedes drivers have built up in the championship is not solely down to the performance of their car. Ferrari were potential winners in two of the first four races. An engine problem robbed Leclerc of victory in Bahrain, and a qualifying crash by the 21-year-old
probably cost him pole, and potentially victory in Azerbaijan.
Even so, the Mercedes was on balance the fastest car, and that position was consolidated by an imposing performance around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
