Photo: Mark Thompson (Getty Images) 2021 is likely to be an interesting year for Mercedes F1 and, by extension, the entire Formula 1 grid. The team didn’t win the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in the typically dominant fashion that most of us probably expected. Merc’s Lewis Hamilton got lucky when an illegal outside pass from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen forced the Dutch driver to concede the position he gained. By the time he did, his tires no longer had the grip to make a run at Hamilton again. Advertisement The perception of many fans — and certainly Mercedes itself, given the way team boss Toto Wolff has been talking lately — is that the Silver Arrows team doesn’t have the fastest car. During its recent run of utter dominanceMercedes has maintained a habit of playing underdog whenever things looked even a little sub-optimal—then going unchallenged for the championship. So Wolff’s doomsaying should be taken with a grain of salt.