Formula 1: Toto Wolff discusses the end of Mercedes’ reign
By Asher Fair
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team principal Toto Wolff believes the reign of the team atop Formula 1 has reached its conclusion.
Following the Canadian Grand Prix, the seventh race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, at the 14-turn, 2.710-mile (4.361-kilometer) Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team principal Toto Wolff discussed the team’s reign atop Formula 1.
Since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in the 2014 Formula 1 season, Mercedes have been dominant. There is no other way to describe it. They have won each of the four constructor championships that have been decided since then, and their drivers have been responsible for winning each of the four driver championships that have been decided since then.
Only one time during the four-year span from the 2014 season to the 2017 season has a Mercedes driver failed to win at least five races in a season, and only one time during that span has a Mercedes driver failed to finish in the top two in the driver standings. That driver was Valtteri Bottas, who won three races and finished in third place in the standings last season in his first season driving for the team.
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Only one time in that four-year span has Mercedes failed to win at least 16 of a season’s races. That one time was last season when the team won 12 races, as four-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton won nine and Bottas, as referenced above, won the other three.
Prior to the start of this season, Mercedes had won 63 of the 79 races that had been contested in the V6 turbo hybrid era. Including only the 2014 season to the 2016 season, they had failed to win just eight races, as they won 51 of the 59 races that were contested. However, after the Canadian Grand Prix, a race dominated by Scuderia Ferrari that left the Brackley-based organization shaking their heads with what Wolff described as a “s*** result”, Wolff believes that the reign of the Silver Arrows atop Formula 1 has come to an end.
Mercedes have earned just two victories so far this season, meaning they have failed to win five of the season’s first seven races, and only one of those victories, which came in the fifth race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix, came as a result of the team’s dominance. Hamilton won that race by 20.593 seconds over Bottas in second place.
It is quite clear that Mercedes no longer have an advantage over the rest of the field like they did in the last four seasons even though they still do have a 17-point lead (206 to 189) in the constructor standings over Ferrari in second place and a 72-point lead (206 to 134) in the standings over Aston Martin Red Bull Racing in third.
In fact, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel just took the lead of the driver standings over Hamilton. The struggles of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen so far in 2018 are what is preventing them from leading the constructor standings, and the disastrous slew of blown opportunities by Red Bull Racing through the first seven races of the season is what has kept them from being closer to the top of the constructor standings.
Here is what Wolff had to say about the matter, according to F1i.com.
"“We came to Montreal expecting our car to be really strong. And we are leaving seeing we haven’t been where we thought we should be. You can’t come to Montreal and think it’s going to be a walk in the park, because that’s the kind of wake-up call you get.”“It’s a three-way fight, six cars can win races. You can’t take anything for granted. Somehow this year the margins have become so tight: five cars within a tenth. This is why this year’s championship is going to be decided by the ones who make the least mistakes. I still think we are not pretty good in Monaco or Singapore. That may be the odd outlier, but you need to expect people to be strong everywhere.“We were expecting to have the engine here and then on the last long run we spotted a potential issue. I’d rather have it in the car on Friday morning, run it without problems, and then confirm it. You have to come to the weekend, all your preparation work has to be spot on. There’s no time to be lost in terms of preparation on the Friday because it’s going to come and bite you.”"
That said, Wolff still hasn’t ruled out Mercedes winning the constructor championship this season for the fifth straight year, as he shouldn’t, and he certainly hasn’t ruled out Hamilton winning the driver championship this season for the fifth time in his Formula 1 career to tie Juan Manuel Fangio for second place on the all-time Formula 1 titles list behind only Michael Schumacher, the legendary seven-time champion.
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Do you agree with Toto Wolff that the reign of Mercedes atop Formula 1 has reached its end following a four-year stint of dominance that resulted in four driver championships, four constructor championships, and seven top two finishes in the driver standings for the team’s drivers?