Not always the fastest car that wins in F1, says Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the 2018 Formula 1 championship is set to go down in history as one of the sport’s best seasons while he believes the trend of unpredictable races will continue after the summer break.

With F1 returning to action this weekend, Mercedes is preparing to defend its lead in both world championships starting at the Belgian Grand Prix which signals the start second half of the season.

Wolff says the summer break came at a timely moment for Mercedes and expects a full-on fight both on and off track for the 2018 F1 world titles, while he doesn’t expect the fastest car on the grid to be guaranteed any victories this year.

Mercedes appeared to have a slender pace advantage over Ferrari at the start of the campaign, only to see strategy blunders cost wins in Australia and China, but in recent races with the Italian manufacturer looking on top the defending champions have struck with back-to-back wins in Germany and Hungary before the break.

“It's very difficult to make any predictions for Spa,” Wolff said. “If this season has taught us one thing, it's that there are no clear favourites for specific tracks anymore and that it's not always the fastest car that wins.

“Instead, the competitive balance seems to swing back and forth from circuit to circuit. What is clear is that our competitors are pushing extremely hard and put up a very tough fight.

“So we need to keep our heads down, work hard to eliminate our weaknesses and further build on our strengths, and take the season race by race. 2018 promises to be a season that we will still be talking about in years to come and we can't wait to get out there and start racing again.”

Lewis Hamilton currently leads the F1 world drivers’ championship by 24 points from Sebastian Vettel, with Mercedes edging the constructors’ standings 10 points ahead of Ferrari.