Formula 1 is entering a new era, and if former Grand Prix driver Juan Pablo Montoya is to be believed, Mercedes hasn't just found a loophole – they’ve found a wormhole.
While most teams left Barcelona last week cautiously optimistic or quietly concerned, Montoya fears that the Silver Arrows may have been playing an entirely different game. Not just sandbagging, he suggests – but burying their true pace so deep that rivals might not see it coming until it’s far too late.
And if Montoya’s whispers are anywhere near the truth, the stopwatch numbers from testing may have been little more than a polite introduction.
‘They Didn’t Show Everything’
Mercedes’ winter has already been surrounded by intrigue. The Brackley squad’s new power unit has drawn scrutiny thanks to a clever interpretation of the regulations regarding compression ratios – a technical nuance that has reportedly ruffled feathers among rival manufacturers.
While the FIA has, for now, given no sign of intervention, the suspicion alone has been enough to keep Mercedes in the spotlight.
On track in Barcelona, the team didn’t top the headline time sheets. Instead, it quietly racked up laps – more than anyone else – building reliability while others chased glory runs. To Montoya, that smelled less like caution and more like calculation.
©Mercedes
“If you hear what I hear – I think they didn’t show everything by a long shot,” the former Williams and McLaren driver said, speaking on a recent AS Colombia podcast. “I’ve heard they can still be three to four seconds faster!
“They worked a reliable program and drove a lot of laps, but if they really start pushing … then it could be very different.”
Three to four seconds. In modern Formula 1, that isn’t an advantage – it’s a landslide.
Wolff Pumps the Brakes
Inside Mercedes, however, the tone is far less explosive. Team principal Toto Wolff has been keen to temper expectations, perhaps scarred by the team’s struggles during the early ground-effect years.
While Montoya is lighting fireworks, Wolff is carrying a fire extinguisher.
“We're into these regulations for the next few years and how I'd like to see is that the way we are thinking about it is not always the optimization on a weekend or a season, but seeing an upward trajectory,” the Austrian said.
©Mercedes
“So, whatever the pace is that we're coming out of the blocks, I'm certain there will be challenges, our own challenges, the relative performance against the others.
“So I would, at that stage, let's see how it goes and let's see whether we have a car that has the potential to fight for a championship. But I'm a 'glass is half empty' person. I don't see any of that at that stage. I'm wary and skeptical,” he concluded.
So, Montoya sees a sleeping giant sharpening its claws, but Wolff insists he’s just trying to make sure the giant can walk straight first.
Whether Mercedes truly has seconds in hand or merely solid foundations will become clear when the lights go out in Melbourne next month – and the sandbags, if they exist, are finally lifted.
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