Even though Lewis Hamilton set what some have said was the lap of his life to claim pole position for last weekend’s Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix; he ended up being denied the expected win after the Mercedes backroom team failed to properly predict the effects of the Virtual Safety Car on Ferrari’s chasing Sébastien Vettel.
And despite having to settle for second best on the day, team boss Toto Wolff was still upbeat as he believed the race showed that 2018’s F1 season would be a competitive one, and not the Mercedes walkover some had expected.
"Yeah, I'm quite pleased," Wolff said. "Whatever is said, nobody believes that there are other teams still incapable of winning races and fighting for the championship. We saw a sensational purple time of Daniel at the end when he was trying to overtake Kimi [Raikkonen] and Ferrari won it fair and square in so far that I think we are up for a season where we could see different winners."
One thing Wolff was emphatic over, however, was that Hamilton’s lap was all his own and that contrary to Vettel’s suggestions, there was no special “party mode” on the WO9.
"We didn't change any modes from his first lap to the second one [in qualifying]. It was just an unbelievable lap. If you look at the onboard you just want to shut your eyes because it's so fast. He just got it all together and it was his lap and this made the margin.”
With regard to the rest of the field, Wolff seemed to confirm what most observers thought after Melbourne that it could well be a three way race for the 2018 title.
"In terms of the pattern, I think it will also depend on the circuit. On less power-sensitive circuits the Red Bull might be a little bit closer, but again I expect these three teams to be able to win races over the championship.”
The Mercedes boss was also mindful that it wasn’t just the top three teams that had made strides over the winter and felt that the top three could well be pushed by the some of the faster midfield teams after the way some of them had performed around Albert Park.
"And you could also see behind that the group of McLaren, Renault, and Haas are right up there for Max [Verstappen] and for Valtteri [Bottas] it was not possible to overtake these cars."
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