According to Mercedes’ data, so says their Team Principal Toto Wolff, the Silver Arrows do not have a car or power unit which can match the Red Bull-Honda package right now. Red Bull chief Christian Horner isn’t entertaining such a notion, instead suggesting we need to wait until four races have passed until we get a clearer picture of who is on top.
As it stands, heading into the Portuguese Grand Prix weekend, they are pretty evenly matched – with the dominant paddock chatter focused on who everyone thinks will come out on top in round three at Portimao, in what is a third successive different type of track F1 has visited so far this season.
Given Mercedes’ pre-season struggles, few expected them to be leading both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships after the first two Grands Prix of the seasons – least of all, it seems, their own Team Principal Toto Wolff, who described his team as having been given a “get out of jail free card” by their rivals.
In the face of the strongest season start for Red Bull since the turbo-hybrid era began, Lewis Hamilton claimed a somewhat shock victory at the opening race of the season in Bahrain (with team mate Valtteri Bottas completing the podium) – while Hamilton then took pole at Imola, before recovering from an off into the gravel to finish second behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
James Allison is to take up a new role with Mercedes as Chief Technical Officer, which will see him step back from his day-to-day duties with the reigning champions, with current technology director Mike Elliott stepping up to replace him as Technical Director.
The significant change in structure, which was announced on Friday morning, means that in the coming months Allison will hand over the role he has fulfilled since 2017 to Elliot, and will instead start to focus on the challenges facing the team as F1 prepares to move into a new era with all-new regulations next year.
In his time overseeing the team s technical operations at Brackley, the Silver Arrows are unbeaten in both drivers and constructors championships – but Allison says it s time to move on from that role.
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s ferocious rivalry at Mercedes may have resulted in some of the Silver Arrows’ most dominant seasons – but according to Team Principal Toto Wolff, it also forced Mercedes to consider some radical options to keep the duo in check, and stop the team from imploding.
Hamilton and Rosberg’s journey from karting team mates and friends to bitter rivals at Mercedes is well-documented, while their on-track clashes – most notably at Spa 2014, Austria 2016 and their infamous collision at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, which paved the way for Max Verstappen’s first F1 win – have cemented the team mate rivalry as one of the fiercest in F1 history.