Mercedes' march to its seventh title double has looked as serene as ever in 2020. Ahead of the final three races of the season, it has scored 12 wins and 13 poles - only losing its 100% record in qualifying at the last race in Turkey.
But, had the campaign started as expected in Australia, Formula 1's dominant squad might well have run into a "painful" problem.
Unlike its predecessor, with which it shares much of its design DNA, the W11 had been the class of the field in winter testing. It topped the times at both tests at Barcelona back in February, where Mercedes stunned onlookers with the innovation it had packed onto the car - DAS, in particular - ahead of a season that was supposed to be the last before F1's latest rules revolution came into effect.