Neither Mercedes nor Red Bull Racing had a particularly strong weekend in Sochi. Red Bull's expectations were not that high, which should have provided Mercedes with an easy win. That victory came, but the Austrian team was anything but dominant in the Russian Grand Prix.
The current title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen is typical: there is almost no track left where Mercedes really dominates. This means that the team has to find other ways to stay ahead of their rivals.
Mercedes tries to stay ahead of Red Bull
Something new was also tried in Sochi. Valtteri Bottas drove in the first and second free practice with a different front wing that was very similar to the one used by Red Bull, Formu1a.uno reports. However, the team decided to swap it for the old model again on Saturday.
It didn't stop there: prior to the race on Sunday, Mercedes decided to replace Bottas' engine again, despite the fact that he was also using a new power unit in Monza. This was initially called a strategic decision, but this was emphatically denied by team principal Toto Wolff.