Every season is a big season, but for the steamroller that is Mercedes 2018 is going to be a tough one. After winning the championship in each of the last four years, everyone is shooting at it while Mercedes is gunning for a rare five in a row.
Ferrari won six constructors' titles from 1999-2004, while McLaren (1988-91) and Red Bull (2010-13) have won four on the trot, a feat Mercedes has repeated over the last four years. For Mercedes to get ahead of McLaren and Red Bull it must keep up that winning streak before recharging and going after Ferrari's amazing record of six.
Last year was not easy for Mercedes, but the team will have learned a lot more from that than it would have done on a walk in the park. Mercedes had the car for the faster tracks but Ferrari was on top at the slower ones. In the end, more tracks suited Mercedes with 15 pole positions and 12 wins than Ferrari, with five poles and five wins.