Mercedes: “We have a fight on our hands with Ferrari”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says “we have a fight on our hands with Ferrari” following Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which initially was closely contested.

Polesitter George Russell was eight tenths faster than the quickest Ferrari, driven by Charles Leclerc, in qualifying, but that advantage didn’t translate into race dominance.

Leclerc snatched the lead away at the start; he and Russell traded first place several times over the first 10 laps.

That battle ended when Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull broke down on lap 11, causing a virtual safety car; while both Ferraris stayed out, Mercedes made the most of the cheap pitstops on offer, taking a decisive advantage on its way to a 1-2 finish.

Still, the Scuderia’s pace was ominous – Lewis Hamilton’s fastest 10 laps averaged a 1m22.557s, leading Max Verstappen (1m22.632s) and Kimi Antonelli (1m22.635s) – so Wolff is not confident the Silver Arrows will romp to the title.

“When it comes to Ferrari, before the race people were saying, ‘You're going to disappear in the distance, looking at your long runs.’ And that wasn't the case,” the Austrian commented.

“We knew that they were strong on the starts and that's what happened. It was an out-and-out battle between Charles and George at the beginning. Kimi was a bit unlucky that the battery wasn't on the level that it should have been – on either car actually, to a certain degree,” he added, with polesitter Russell losing out to Leclerc at the start while Antonelli collapsed from second to seventh.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images)

“It was a three-way fight at a certain stage between the two Ferraris and George, and eventually Kimi caught up.

“The race pace at the end was very encouraging from our side, but at the beginning, there was nothing between Ferrari and Mercedes.

“For me, the prevailing feeling is now we have a fight on our hands with Ferrari.”

Leclerc taking the lead from fourth on the grid wasn’t unrelated to Ferrari’s presumed ability to spool up the turbo more efficiently than rivals when sitting on the grid ahead of the lights going out.

Asked whether Mercedes was going to catch up soon in this area, Wolff replied: “I'm not sure. I think it's down to hardware. A certain configuration of hardware and the engine turbo size that allows you to spin the turbo maybe easier, to have a better start and maybe compromising other parts of the track or the race.

“No, we haven't changed anything for the starts. I was happy that we actually got going, even though the battery wasn't full on either car. When you look at the pre-start with the engine revving, you're thinking, ‘What the hell? I hope everybody is able to leave his starting position without carnage.’ So I think it was pretty good already for a first.”