Mercedes in Seventh Heaven: Analysis of a record-breaking Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, brought to you by Bahrain International Circuit

When asked, why he seemed to get more than his fair share of luck on the golf course, the great South African golfer, Gary Player, replied “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” That sentiment sprung to mind yesterday, as Lewis Hamilton won yet again, as F1 took its third visit of the year to Italy, this time to Imola. It also meant that Mercedes took the Constructors’ Championship for the seventh year in a row, a feat never before achieved in F1’s 70-year history.

The manner in which this victory was achieved would be put down to luck by many. Starting on pole, Bottas got off to a great start, as did Verstappen and it was these two who were ahead of Hamilton for the first 18 laps. It all looked so comfortable for Bottas as he pitted for new tyres for his second stint. At that point, Hamilton’s side of the garage opted to keep him out, gaining track position, but a pit stop down. Fast forward to lap 31 and the briefest of virtual safety cars came out. In that 40 second window, Hamilton stopped for tyres enabling him to come out ahead of his teammate. Was it luck? Or was it a solid strategy call to leave Hamilton out longer, offering a higher chance that a safety car could come out, at which point he could pounce? It isn’t just Gary Player who will tell you that the best sportsmen make their own luck and perhaps it is no coincidence that these opportunities materialise for Hamilton more often than for his teammate.

Elsewhere, it was a bad day at the office for Red Bull. Max Verstappen was running well in third, only for his car to suffer a tyre blowout on lap 51, bringing an end to his race and the appearance of another safety car. Alex Albon in the other Red Bull was plumb last, following a series of driver errors. Notable mentions should go to Daniel Ricciardo who achieved his second podium in three races, Kimi Raikkonen, the only driver on the grid to have previously taken part in an F1 race at Imola, who finished ninth for Alfa Romeo and also to Daniil Kvyat in the AlphaTauri who finished a remarkable fourth. It was, however, a sad day for George Russell who was so close to his first ever points finish. His race was ended by a driver error on lap 53 and he could barely contain his frustration.

Notwithstanding some impressive midfield performances, this weekend was yet again all about Mercedes and it’s worth putting its latest record in the context of its own history, to really demonstrate quite how impressive this achievement is. The team was acquired by Mercedes’ parent company ahead of the 2010 season, having previously raced under the championship-winning Brawn umbrella the previous year. Despite the pedigree of the team and despite having the great Michael Schumacher as one of its drivers, they did not have the best of starts. In fact, they didn’t win a single race for their first two seasons, and only really got going in 2013 when Hamilton joined after a solitary victory the previous year. Remarkably, despite that slow start, they have won over 50% of races they have entered. When you compare that to the long-standing F1 runners, only Ferrari and McLaren make it above 20%, and in both cases they are under 25%. That’s probably an unfair comparison, as both those teams have notched up over four times the number of race entries in their long history and team performance does very much go in cycles. However, that traditional cycle of performance has had absolutely no impact on Mercedes over the last 7 years. You would have expected at least at some stage that they would hit the point of diminishing returns and that other teams would simply catch up, especially in an era of relatively consistent regulation. The reality, however, is that just even the sniff of a threat to their dominance is always met with incredible hard work and application.

Some may say that this has made the sport too predictable. That’s hardly Mercedes fault and the reality is, as is the case with Hamilton, that we are fortunate to be able to witness such brilliance, hard work and determination. Many will see this latest record as a tribute to the late Niki Lauda, who showed exactly these qualities. There can be no better way to pay homage to him.