Be it new chassis and tyre regulations, the sudden retirement of its world champion driver or the defection of its technical director, Mercedes has weathered the storm.

Despite an increased challenge from Ferrari this season, Mercedes domination of the sport under the new hybrid formula continued, the German team now having won 63 of the 79 (79.74%) of the races held since the new engine formula was introduced in 2014.

And with minimal regulation changes for next season, the sport's technical boss, Ross Brawn, fears the domination will continue.

"They've got a great group of people, but my slight worry is that they will get even stronger now," he told ESPN. "They've had a change of senior management and that was in the middle of a regulation change, which is not easy.

By their own admission, the car they had this year was a bit of a diva," he continued, "and I strongly suspect that's not going to be the case next year. So I just see - unfortunately in many ways - a continuation of the steamroller. Let's hope I'm wrong!"

The Briton's "slight worry" will be echoed by race fans around the world, not because they particularly dislike the German outfit or its drivers but because, as was the case during the era of Ferrari dominance in which Brawn was an integral part - they don't want to see one team dominating.

"We have to keep a balanced view," insisted the Briton. "We had some great races this season, Abu Dhabi wasn't the greatest, but we had some great races this year. I think it's a combination of the circuits, the cars we have, the drivers and how competitive everyone is, so I'm optimistic we can have a very strong year next year.

"But in terms of changing the cars, in terms of tuning the circuits and in terms of perhaps developing the tyres to help the racing, that is going to take some time," he admitted. "But I think you will see over the next few years that every decision will be made to move in that direction, whereas before that was not always the case. I think I can make a commitment that every sporting and technical decision we take will be in the direction of improving the racing and improving the show."

Fact is, with the engine regulations not due for overhaul until 2021, there is the very likely prospect of Mercedes not only dominating again 2018 but in 2019 and 2020 also.

Ferrari is likely to continue to shoot itself in the foot, as it always has done, while Red Bull doesn't even know what engine it will have beyond 2018 and should the experiment with Toro Rosso and Honda prove pointless the Austrian team - despite Christian Horner's recent comments in terms of Ferrari's threats - is likely to voice its own quit warning.

All this on a day that it is confirmed that overtaking this season is down by almost 50% on last year.

While Brawn admits that changing things will take time, fact is time is exactly what the sport and its new owners don’t have. At the end of another three years of domination the damage could be irreparable.

Still, at least we have a new logo to energise the sport.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Canuck, 08/12/2017 15:42

"Teams complain about the cost of PU in the new era, but how much do they spend in a year on just front wing development? When you look at wind tunnel, CFD computing, person hours, etc spent on changes to just front wings, I am sure it surpasses the cost of PU. Multiply that to each component of the aero package and up goes the costs. Isn't complaining about PU costs looking at the wrong costs? Should the FIA and the new FOM team not be looking at simplifying Aero package, i.e - no more than 2 elements in the front wing? Would this not allow to follow a car more closely? What about reducing the wake in the back of the car? I thought these where bright engineers."

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2. Posted by Mugmug, 07/12/2017 23:43

"Something has to be done and quickly. I don't see F1 having any fans left before the new engine regs. I used to go to a European race almost every year, now I wouldn't go to one if the entry was free.I don't blame Mercedes for building a dominant car but it's human nature to shy away from something if you know the outcome. For me the main culprit to the miserable state F1 is in is the FIA and the Toad running it."

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3. Posted by Your Mom's Best Friend, 06/12/2017 19:52

"Would have to assume that the "M" stands for: MEDIOCRE.

That does about sum up the state of things, I think."

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4. Posted by FormerF1Fan, 06/12/2017 7:39

"Why don't we just call it "M1" and be done with it?
"

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Brawn fears Mercedes steamroller to continue

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