While their rivals are far from throwing in the towel, Mercedes have been
suggesting all weekend that it will be almost impossible to catch them given
their advantage. But Lauda insisted that the constructors’ championship was
still open, despite Mercedes taking 197 points from a possible 215 in the
first five races.
“I wish that this continues to a point in the championship where there is no
third guy, then I’m completely relaxed,” he said. “Then they can drive over
each other, and whoever is surviving is the world champion. This is my
dream, but we’re not there yet. I want them to throw everybody off and then
there is no enemy, and then it’s really going to be warfare.”
Christian Horner, Red
Bull’s team principal, conceded last night that there was a chance
that Mercedes could win all of this year’s 19 races.
“Mercedes have got themselves into a dominant position,” Horner said. “We have
a choice: we either pack up and go home or we fight. We have made small
inroads and we are determined to keep pushing, but obviously maximum points
every weekend is putting them in a very strong position. The 48-second gap
is a little artificial because we lost a lot of time behind Williams and it
is about managing tyres to the end of the race. When we had clear air, we
definitely moved closer.”
“It is possible but improbable that Mercedes would win all 19 races this year.
They have a good engine-car-driver combination at the moment but things can
change. We won the last nine races of last year and things changed very
quickly.”
Daniel Ricciardo achieved his first Formula
One podium finish, after his disqualification in Melbourne, while
his team-mate Sebastian Vettel progressed from 15th on the grid up to
fourth.
“It’s nice to stand back up on the podium – I actually still feel a bit
awkward up there, but I’m sure I will get more comfortable,” Ricciardo said.
“It seems at the moment it’s Mercedes who are battling between themselves
and they are doing a tremendous job.”