F1 head Ross Brawn believes that Mercedes dominance is still prevalent even with the two wins for Ferrari.
After scoring its first two wins of the 2019 F1 season, Ferrari finally got over the line to beat rivals Mercedes but it wasn’t a dominant show as both the races had a close challenge from the German manufacturer.
Charles Leclerc had to really fight for the wins, especially at Monza where he was also shown a black and white flag for his defence. In both cases, Lewis Hamilton applied a lot more pressure on the Ferrari drivers.
One mistake from the team and or the drivers, would have earned Mercedes a win. Seeing that has made Brawn believe that Mercedes still hold the dominance tag and the circuit helped Ferrari take the wins.
“For Mercedes, the colossus of the hybrid era, not having a driver on the top step of the podium for two consecutive races is rare indeed,” wrote Brawn. “But after the summer break, and after a dominant first half of the campaign, it’s as though the Spa-Monza double header had been designed to put the Silver Arrows in a difficult situation.
“Still, despite Ferrari carrying a straight-line speed advantage that gave then the edge on more power-sensitive tracks with long straights, the world champions still managed to get both their drivers onto the podium.
“Additionally, Hamilton in Spa and Bottas in Monza were less than a second behind Leclerc at the finish line. It shows that Mercedes still has the best and most rounded package and there is little sign of their dominance being ended this year.
“However, if you were to take the results from the summer races, from France onwards, the standings would show that things are a lot closer than as a cursory glance at the 14-race total shows.
“Hamilton would still lead on 122 points, but his lead over second placed Leclerc would be just 12 points and Verstappen on 97 would still be in the hunt for the title, with Bottas (88) and Vettel (69) further back.
“Red Bull and Ferrari have made substantial progress but it’s true that where one does well, the other doesn’t. Mercedes, meanwhile, are always in the hunt for victory, irrespective of track characteristics.
“The more you win, the more you want to win and there’s only one thing Toto Wolff will be asking his guys to deliver in Singapore.” With the gap Mercedes has, it won’t be long when they seal the constructors’ title at least.