It happens time after time in Formula One and it will happen again in the future, one team always out develops the others and for a period of time, usually around 4-years, that team is totally dominant. Williams F1 was that team in the 90’s. Ferrari and and Schumacher did so in the 2000’s and now Mercedes are top. In between periods of dominance a status quo emerges, usually the result of rule changes or teams finally catching up with the dominant outfit. The 2018 season sees a return to the status-quo. The rules are stable, three teams have emerged as being closely matched. Mercedes and Ferrari are the most evenly matched, Red Bull is a little further behind but not so far as evidenced by their victory at the Chinese GP. It seems the 2018 season depends on which team is better able to manage its tyres, Mercedes are struggling to generate heat over one lap, but get back to “normal” over a race distance, a reversal of last years philosophy. Last year Ferrari was fast over a race distance but lacked speed in qualifying, now they are consistent in qualifying and race distances. Ferrari’s key advantage isn’t the superior straight-line speed, it’s simply that the Scuderia have unlocked the secret into managing the tyres in all conditions, from low to high temperatures. And Hamilton is feeling the heat for sure, he has yet to win this season, his last victory was at the USA Grand Prix in late October. That’s six races without a win if you include 2018 thus far. “We’ve lost performance since Melbourne, and maybe more so even at Shanghai… it is clear… we are not the quickest,” said Hamilton in a recent interview. “I know everyone here and back at the factory is just going to keep pushing as hard as possible.” Hamilton also accpeted that Mercedes has fallen down the pecking order. “So we are second or third fastest team at the moment, we’ve got some improving to do but that’s not impossible.” Of his Mercedes team, Hamilton acknowledged the pressure is on. “We’ve got to keep constructive pressure on the guys. But they’re already pressured as they want to win just as much as all of us.”