Gregson Mathe
In case you missed the Canadian Grand Prix this past weekend, you missed a huge development in the battle to catch and beat the Mercs of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Unless you’re not an F1 one, let me enlighten you with how the last 3 seasons have gone for F1: Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win, Mercedes win. That’s it. That’s been the narrative. The biggest question was who was going to win between Hamilton and Rosberg?
The Canadian Grand Prix was set to buck this trend. And though Mercedes hasn’t won every round to this point this season, Canada marked the first time that Mercedes was a little scared they didn’t have the pace to catch rival Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari. According to a report by Motorsport.com, Merc was worried they did not have the pace to catch Ferrari, an interesting turn of events as the Mercs have had the technological and speed advantages for the better part of 3 seasons.
Mercedes says it cannot be sure it would have had the pace to beat Sebastian Vettel in the Canadian Grand Prix if the German had stayed on a one-stop strategy at the front of the field.
Vettel led the early stages of the race in Montreal but elected to go for a two-stop strategy when Jenson Button’s retirement briefly brought out a Virtual Safety Car.
This meant that Merc would have to our smart Ferrari, and they did.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his outfit was well aware that a two-stop strategy was slightly faster, but suspects that Ferrari would have had a better chance of winning by holding on to track position.
But when asked about pace and if they could have just flat out beat them with speed, Wolff balked.
Wolff said: “Yes, it would have been more difficult.
“You could see the top speed of the Red Bull, and the Ferrari is pretty much where we are. It is what we have been saying all these years – just leave the rules alone and performance is going to merge.
“It is happening right now – so it’s good we are changing the rules for next year! But yes I think it would have been difficult [to get past Vettel]. He drove really well and the gap between the cars was too little today to make a difference.”
The rules are changing, yes, but could this mean a sooner rather than later end to Mercedes dominance and a more competitive field? Unlikely in the near term, but come the end of this season and into next, be excited that things can change and we can get back to racing, instead of just parades.
(Source: Motorsport.com)
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