Mercedes boss Toto Wolff suspects Mercedes' significant advantage over rivals Ferrari at the Russian Grand Prix was down to the circuit's characteristics rather than a sudden leap in relative performance.
Despite problems on both cars, Mercedes took a comfortable one-two victory in Sochi, with race winner Nico Rosberg 32 seconds clear of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in third place. Rosberg was also 0.706s quicker than the fastest Ferrari in qualifying, the biggest advantage Mercedes has held over the Italian team since the first race in Australia.
"The track is very different, very smooth surface, and you can see that the pace of many teams was very different from before -- Williams was very strong here, Red Bull not strong at all, Ferrari not as good as expected," Toto Wolff said. "So this is a particular circuit where you have to get it right in terms of mechanical grip and aerodynamic downforce, engine power plays a role so I would say the blip in performance we've seen from Ferrari is Sochi-specific but then I didn't see their data so I don't know."
But Rosberg says Mercedes still needs to gain a better understanding of why it was so quick in Sochi
"I was surprised this weekend, yes. We have always said that they were close but this weekend they were not close at all and that's impressive to see.
"We need to try to understand that now because we don't understand it, but for sure the asphalt is very unique so that must be part of it. It was an impressive car performance this weekend."