Hakkinen: Mercedes will dominate until other teams eliminate their mistakes

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen believes that Mercedes will continue to dominate F1 until its rivals eliminate their mistakes.

Mercedes has enjoyed the most successful start to an F1 season since Williams back in 1992, securing three back-to-back one-two finishes in the opening three rounds.

While the focus has largely been on Ferrari's struggles since the start of the season, Hakkinen believes that it is Mercedes' efficiency and unbeatable focus that has earned them so much success versus its rivals.

"Charles Leclerc made a better start to the race than Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel and should really have been allowed to get on with it and take the fight to Bottas if he could," Hakkinen said in his Unibet column.

"Instead he was asked to slow down and let Vettel past, which looked like a mistake. Red Bull Racing also made a mistake this weekend, failing to get their drivers across the line in time to start their final qualifying laps.

"Again this illustrates how good the systems and processes need to be, because you should never allow this to happen. A driver and his engineer need to know exactly how much time is required to cover each sector during an out-lap from the pits, so when something as basic as this goes wrong it means that someone has not been doing the calculations properly

"Three races into 2019 and, in spite of Ferrari having the strongest engine and a good package, Mercedes continues to dominate. The mistakes of the other teams are helping them, and we must hope that Ferrari and Red Bull Racing can deliver a more consistent challenge in the races ahead."