There are at least couple of things that Merc has done right in the last year and a half.
1. The upgrades they brought and tested, stayed on the car. Proving good correlation between wind tunnel/CFD and performance on track.
2. None of their catastrophic problems, occurred twice, including that of a "Foreign contamination bug" (
) that spoiled Nico's race in Singapore.
We know Ferrari has struggled in this regard over the past few years. This is the first year with a new staff and a lot of new elements on their facilities as well. So, it would be interesting to see the efficiency of their work on the upgrades.
Does anyone know the answer to this question? When Luca Marmorini was fired, he said his team deliberately designed
A SMALL SIZED ENGINE compared to that of Mercedes or Renault. Anyone know if that architecture still remains small or has that gone through change as well?
Marmorini: Ferrari sacrificed engine for aero
"With my colleagues I packed a power unit with a certain size, ie, [a] smaller version of the Mercedes and Renault, because we were asked by the project manager of the car, Mr. Tombazis.
"[They] said we want a very compact power unit, with small radiators, because the less power [we] will compensate with aerodynamic solutions that will guarantee us an advantage over Mercedes and Renault. It's been exactly like that, except that, when we are confronted with the competition, the horsepower was less obviously, but this was not compensated by aerodynamics!"
Anyway, I agree on what is said in this post. Mercs are being regularly challenged now which wasn't the case last season. Them winning the races doesn't necessarily tell the whole picture.