The one area Mercedes is losing
Mercedes may have a perfect championship record in Formula 1's turbo-hybrid era - which it looks set to extend in 2019 - but the main battleground that pushed it to the front of the grid is now being won by another team
Mercedes may be set to maintain its perfect championship record in Formula 1's turbo-hybrid era, but, as the championship bursts back into life this weekend, the fact it is not favourite to win at Spa offers a fascinating insight into how nothing ever stands still in F1's competitive landscape.
Ferrari's gains on the power front have been noticeable in recent years and have left it heading to Belgium, and its home race in Italy next week, widely acknowledged as the team to beat in those events - despite its winless season so far.
Share Or Save This Story
Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.
More from Jonathan Noble
Mercedes taking action to cure F1 car's “underlying balance” problem
Why Audi and Verstappen have complicated Formula 1’s driver market decisions
‘Metronomic’ Verstappen may rule F1, but it won’t last forever - Horner
RB brands Ricciardo/Tsunoda Chinese GP crashes “unnecessary”
Wolff: Mercedes can't just keep living off F1 ‘bright spots’
Sargeant baffled about not being told of illegal F1 safety car overtake
Mercedes plans Miami F1 upgrades as Russell urges back to basics approach
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
Latest news
McLaughlin denies St. Pete IndyCar advantage through illegal push to pass restart
Magazine: F1 Chinese GP, WEC Imola and WRC Croatia review
Mercedes taking action to cure F1 car's “underlying balance” problem
Brake issues hindered Rosenqvist’s chances of IndyCar victory in Long Beach
Autosport Plus
How Stroll and Magnussen revealed the scale of F1’s racing and rules problems
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024
Why Verstappen's China F1 win was a sideshow to the real battle
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.