Are Mercedes pulling ahead of other cars?

Red Bull Racing driver Pierre Gasly believes that Mercedes are simply ahead of other F1 cars at the moment. Lewis Hamilton and Vallteri Bottas claimed yet another one-two finish last weekend during the Spanish Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Gasly struggling to compete

As things stand, reigning World Champion Hamilton leads the Drivers Championship standings with 112 points followed by his team-mate Bottas, who is in second place and several points behind. Incredibly, Mercedes have produced the World Championship winning car for the past five years.

Hamilton has won four out of those five Championships, with the other going to Nico Rosberg in 2016. However, Rosberg shockingly announced his retirement from F1 after winning the World Championship in order to spend more time with his family.

Mercedes showing no signs of letting up

The last time that a driver from outside Mercedes won the Championship was way back in 2013 when Sebastian Vettel did so in a Red Bull Car. Gasly is aiming to up his aim after initially struggling to adapt to his new car after joining from Torro Rosso. He does feel that his team has a chance to compete with Ferrari this season. However, he has also admitted that Mercedes may just be out of reach for his team this season.

“If you look at their pace objectively, they made a huge step forward,” said Gasly according to Grand Prix.com. “I think they are much faster than us and Ferrari.”

Team official Dr Helmut Marko agrees, adding: “It was alarming how much faster Mercedes were in the slow corners, and Monte Carlo is almost entirely slow corners.”

Perhaps Mercedes are just too good now. Based off performances over recent years, it is quite clear that they have a car which is more dominant than others on the Grid. If they continue to set the high standards, there is a good chance that Hamilton could eventually overtake Michael Schumacher’s seven World Championships.

Featured Image Credit: “Red Bull RB15 / Pierre Gasly / FRA / Red” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Renzopaso