‘DOMINANT BUT NOT INVINCIBLE’
Mercedes boss brushes aside talks of winning all races
THE dominance of Mercedes AMG PETRONAS has some people asking already, with 16 races to go, whether the Formula One world champions could do the unthinkable and become the invincibles.
No team has ever won every race in a season, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s McLaren coming close in 1988 when they won 15 out of 16. Mercedes won 19 of 21 in 2016.
The question was batted aside smartly by team boss Toto Wolff after Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix brought a fifth successive one-two, the best ever start to a season, but nobody likes to tempt fate.
“We have had five fantastic performances now with five onetwos but we don’t take it for granted,,” said the Austrian.
“Next week is going to be a tremendous challenge for us, we’ve not performed well in
Monaco these last years. You remember how strong (Daniel) Ricciardo was last year in the Red Bull and they were in a league of their own.”
Monaco’s unforgiving, metalfenced street circuit can always throw up a nasty surprise for the careless or the unwary, and yet there is every chance the ‘invincibles’ question will continue to be asked beyond that Mediterranean showcase.
“Their fifth one-two finish is exceedingly dominant,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner, whose car was the closest to Mercedes in Barcelona with Max Verstappen finishing third.
“Certainly in Monaco, if you look at their performance in the low-speed section of this circuit, you would expect them to be very strong,” he added. “They’ll certainly be very much the favourites there.”
“I think it’s very much a Mercedes championship, you can see that after five races — three points off a maximum score.”
The only points Mercedes have shed so far have been for fastest lap, with five times champion Lewis Hamilton — winner on Sunday and now championship leader — and Valtteri Bottas taking two of the five.
Otherwise, they have scored 217 points out of a possible 220. Ferrari, their closest rivals, have a comparatively meagre tally of 121.
Despite that, Horner felt sure the streak would end.
“That’s 21 races to achieve 21 victories. You’d never say never, but it would be a hell of an achievement,” he said.
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto was also asked whether he felt Mercedes could go the distance unbeaten and shook his head as drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc both said no.
“Each circuit is different. Our car has got some strengths, certainly weaknesses but some strengths. I think it’s certainly too early for such an assumption,” said the Swiss-born Italian.
Another question that could linger longer is whether the sport can withstand such domination without the fans losing interest.
The same fears were raised when Ferrari, with Michael Schumacher in the early years of the century, and Red Bull with Vettel from 2010-13, were rampant.