The early talk of Formula One racing's new era was that Mercedes were in good shape, but even after a convincing pre-season, few were expecting them to be quite so dominant in 2014, taking nine wins from the first 11 races.
In a wide-ranging interview, Mercedes-Benz head of motorsport Toto Wolff discusses the Silver Arrows' rise, and explains how the team intend to keep a lid on the simmering rivalry between title rivals and team mates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton...
Q: Toto, it's obviously been a phenomenal season for Mercedes so far, but when did you know, or start to realise, that you were in good shape?
Toto Wolff: Late, you know - late into testing. We were flat out, and we didn't have any indication of where we were compared to our competition. We were very proud to be the first ones out of the garage, and to have had a couple of okay days compared to our competition, who sometimes struggled even to get their car out. So it was clear that we had an advantage: if you can test versus someone who is unable to, there is a big advantage you take from it. But we didn't really know about performance, about power, about fuel consumption, until we actually started racing. We were confident, and carefully optimistic that we had done a good job in integrating the power unit into the car, but you cannot get carried away - ever.
We had a discussion in the second or third test, where we knew we were looking competitive, about whether it would be similar to 2009 and Brawn. But we estimated it would be less, because when Brawn started the 2009 campaign they had a big advantage. We didn't think we were on that level.
Q: And after Australia?
TW: It was still not clear, because we expected the others to make big steps forward. They were lacking the testing [mileage], but they improved a lot between the last test and Australia, so we expected them to make big steps forward. This is why we were always careful in our assessment of where we were.
Q: After Australia, another eight victories have followed. Mercedes now hold a commanding advantage in the constructors' standings. When can you be confident about that title heading in your direction?
TW: For me, we are not in the betting or gambling business. When it is mathematically impossible to be caught, that is when belief becomes reality. It is just not how we function that we speak about titles before they are actually achieved.

Q: You were in the hunt heading into last year's summer break, having won in Hungary and Great Britain, but Red Bull dominated the second half of the season. Do you understand why - and does that prove just how quickly things can slip?
TW: Yes, it shows how quickly it can fall away, but I didn't ever see us as contenders last year - we had good qualifying performances, but we were never able to translate that properly to the races. We had great races in Monaco, in Silverstone, and then we had the

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