Mercedes won't be as dominant in 2021 as they were in 2020, that much is clear. Yet Lewis Hamilton in particular still looks hugely fast, especially given the low expectations after the winter test. Hamilton not only qualified on pole in Imola, but was faster than Max Verstappen at key moments during the race.
Especially when the track started to dry, Hamilton made up a lot of time in his pursuit of the Dutchman. He made a mistake himself, otherwise we probably would have had an exciting fight for victory right up to the finish. And given the speed Hamilton showed at the end of the race, he would have been anything but the underdog.
Battle for the underdog position
Yet Toto Wolff was happy to put his team back in that position afterwards. "We still have a gap with this car," he told Sky Germany. ""We had a very good car today, both on wet and dry. So we are starting to understand. But according to our data, we still don't have a car and a power unit that can match the Red Bull-Honda, " Wolff said.
If you judge the speed of both teams by the second drivers, there might be some truth in that. On the other hand, you could say that McLaren or Ferrari had the fastest car in Imola and that's not true. The only conclusion we can really draw is that the differences are marginal.