Toto Wolff claims that “relentless” competition has forced Mercedes to “push the limits” in order to remain in front, thus putting reliability at risk.
The reigning Constructors’ champions have won the first four races of the season courtesy of Nico Rosberg, with Lewis Hamilton making it a one-two finish in Australia and Russia. The German is already 55 points clear of third-placed Kimi Raikkonen in the standings, while Mercedes has more than double the tally of Ferrari.
But Mercedes has also experienced a series of technical mishaps on both its W07s, which could have been more costly.
“Assessing our season so far is an interesting task,” Wolff said. “On the one side, we are leading the Constructors' championships by a good margin and our drivers hold the top two positions in the Drivers' standings. So, realistically speaking, it's tough to ask for more.
“However, it has not been plain sailing and we have had problems that we are working hard to solve. We have rivals breathing down our necks who are relentless in their chase.
“The longer regulations remain stable, the harder it is to find extra performance. We are pushing the limits to ensure we remain competitive - but if you push the limits then at a certain stage you risk stepping over them.”
As F1 returns to Europe this weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix, Wolff adds there is no let-up in Mercedes’ efforts to stay one step ahead of the game.
“The whole team, on both the chassis and Power Unit side, is working flat out to extract every millisecond from our package without compromising reliability. This is a group of great engineers and I have no doubt that they are going to achieve that.
“We are always learning as a team. In Hungary and Singapore last year, we took a couple of big hits. But we came out of those races stronger and we continue to learn from our struggles.
“We're going to see some big upgrades from the different teams and Power Unit suppliers over the next few races, so now is the time we can truly assess the pecking order. Barcelona will be an interesting weekend from that perspective, so we must be prepared.”
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