Formula 1's chief technical officer Pat Symonds believes Mercedes' tyre management issues have been embedded in the team for years, but masked by the manufacturer's big power advantage.
For the first time since F1 ushered in its hybrid era in 2014, Mercedes has failed to deliver a win in the first three races of the season, its W09 generally outpaced by Ferrari, while also outrun by Red Bull in China.
While team boss Toto Wolff insists its 2018 charger does not share the “diva” characteristics of its predecessor, inconsistent performance and tyres still appear to be at the forefront of Mercedes' concerns this year.
For Symonds, the issues are hardly new, believing they have been rooted in the team as far back as 2013.
"If you look back at the recent history of Mercedes, one thing that they've never quite got on top of is tyre management," explained the former Benetton and Renault tech boss who now works alongside Ross Brawn at the head of the sport's technical think tank.
"We saw it a lot in the pre-hybrid era when they didn't have the engine advantage they enjoy now. Then, if they didn't get their tyre quite right, they didn't have great races.”
"I think things were masked from 2014 to 2016, simply because they had this big power advantage.
"Then, last year we started to hear the car being called a 'diva'. What's that about? In my mind, the difference in performance you get from one weekend to the next is not really explainable in aerodynamics or vehicle dynamics or anything like that.
"With an aero/chassis package, getting your set-up just right might mean you're hoping to pick up a tenth or so from Friday to Saturday qualifying.
"But when you get a big shift, when suddenly you're not competitive, it has to be down to tyres. And if it's down to tyres it's down to not using them well and not getting the temperatures correct."
Tyres aren't Mercedes' only weak point according to Symonds who also underlined a few wrong calls made by the team on the strategy front.
"Strategically, they've also had troubles," he said.
"When you have a fast car and you're controlling the race, the strategy comes to you.
"But recently with Mercedes we've seen some... I won't call them wrong, but I would say some imperfect strategy calls.
“I think that's because there may have been imperfect calls before, but with such a performance advantage you don't really see them."
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