MELBOURNE, Australia -- After smashing the Albert Park lap record by 0.6s and beating Ferrari by 0.7s, it was not immediately clear to Mercedes how it had managed to gain such a massive advantage on the eve of the first race of the season.
The team knew it had made progress in the final days of pre-season testing in Barcelona, offering a promising base to build on in the two weeks leading up to Australia, but it didn't expect to be this fast.