Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has warned the team to be careful when managing its expectations for the 2017 Formula 1 season, following its defeat to Ferrari at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position and led the opening stint but was overhauled through the pit stop phase by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, and had to settle for second, with new team-mate Valtteri Bottas collecting third place.
After three seasons of domination, in which Mercedes took 51 wins and 56 poles from 59 races, along with six world titles, Wolff has said Mercedes needs to be cautious with its predictions for 2017 and is doing its homework to return to the top step of the podium.
“As a group and as individuals, we are all on a personal development slope in this team,” he said. “We try to improve every single day.
“On that particular day in Melbourne, Ferrari were better, so we now have to work out how we can improve again to beat them.
“The last three years were an outlier in Formula 1 and you need to be careful to manage your own expectations.
“If you think you are going to cruise to victory in the future, based on a track record of success, you'll be proven wrong very quickly. You need to put the finger in the wound, identify your weaknesses and then respond.
“We achieved a double podium in the first race of a brand-new set of regulations – a strong result by any standard.
“But that doesn't mean we can be satisfied because there are still many areas where we can be better.
“We have been focused on these during the past week. It's not a case of looking at the competition for inspiration but of getting our own homework done to maximise our performance.”
Mercedes has a strong record at the Chinese Grand Prix, having been beaten only once across the past five years across either qualifying or the race, when Fernando Alonso triumphed in the 2013 encounter.
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