Mercedes has the fastest car on the grid – but one of the defining features of the Formula 1 season so far has been its regular inability to make a clean getaway from the start. Either George Russell or Kimi Antonelli has claimed pole position for all four of the opening grands prix, and championship leader Antonelli was on pole for the China sprint.
Only in the Miami sprint has a car other than a Mercedes started from pole position. And yet it has been rare indeed for one of the Mercedes drivers to be decisively ahead into the first corner – in both the opening rounds, the polesitter was mugged by a Ferrari before Turn 1.
