Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the double tyre failure it suffered at the British Grand Prix proves why it is wrong to assume his team will walk away with the 2020 championship.
Lewis Hamilton managed to crawl to victory despite sustaining a front-left puncture half-way round the final lap of the Silverstone circuit. Two laps earlier teammate Valtteri Bottas had suffered an identical failure when running in a comfortable one-two behind Hamilton — the Finn was forced to pit and was relegated out of points-scoring positions.
Mercedes’ pace in qualifying and the race leading up to that point only strengthened the belief the team could be unbeatable this year, but Wolff believes Silverstone proved that is not the case.
“I know that I get lots of criticism when I point out that black swan events happen, that once you think everything is smooth, and you’re just cruising into the sunset, these things can unfold,” Wolff said.
“We could have easily lost two cars today, out of the points, and then the points advantage would have vanished in a second. We would have still had the fastest car at Silverstone, but come home with zero points.
“This is what I’m always pointing out, the championship is not over until it’s mathematically impossible for anybody else to catch us, and the race isn’t over until the flag drops.
“In that respect, yeah, I’m not happy that my predictions come true sometimes for us. But that’s also what I love about motor racing, that it’s just very unpredictable until the end”.