F1 2018 Pre Season Preview – The One Key Element Mercedes Must Improve Upon For 2018

Mercedes Driver, Lewis Hamilton

In today’s blog I will analyse what the one key element Mercedes absolutely must improve upon for the 2018 Formula One Season. The one key element the Silver Arrows must improve upon is shortening the wheelbase on their car as having a long wheelbase has cost Mercedes dearly around the high Aerodynamic circuits for example at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton just could not keep the car pointing straight due to the poor grip of the Mercedes car. A second example of this is at the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix where not only Lewis Hamilton but also his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas where struggling to keep the car planted on the Hungaroring circuit meaning they just could not live with Ferrari and their drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen at that particular race meeting. And the third example of this is the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix where Mercedes only qualified on the third row of the grid and despite Lewis Hamilton winning the race, even Mercedes would admit they were lucky to come away with that result.

Mercedes Driver, Valtteri Bottas

But there is one element of the Mercedes car that they should keep and keep on improving which is the Power Unit and their pure dominance at high speed circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. this was made evident at the races such as the 2017 British Grand Prix where Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton dominated the race from start to finish with his team mate Valtteri Bottas despite starting in 9th ended up completing a truly dominant Mercedes 1-2 finish. A second example of this is the 2017 Italian Grand Prix where in exceptionally similar circumstances, Mercedes once again took a 1-2 with Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas in similar fashion to Silverstone came through from a lowly grid position. If Mercedes can continue to improve the power output of their engine and they can shorten the wheelbase of their car to improve their downforce, Then in my opinion Mercedes are the favourites for the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship.