The Hybrid Engine - Is it road relevant or just a market stunt

[Rollo]

If we look at the 2016 season, l think any driver that finished the season in the top ten would have won the 2016 title given Rosbergs Mercedes car and Hamilton having the reliability issues that he had. Mainly because of the sheer superiority of the Mercedes engine compared to the competition.

That exactly proves my point. Because of the engine freeze, that "sheer superiority of the Mercedes engine compared to the competition" was locked in place.

Average Place in the Constructors' Championship (hybrids)

M-B: 3.75, 3.75, 6.75 (4.38)
Fer: 7.66, 6.66, 7.00 (7.10)
Ren: 7.00, 5.50, 5.50 (6.25)
Hon: NA, 9.00, 6.00 (7.50)

The reason why M-B fell off the cliff in terms of the Average Place in the Constructors' Championship in the hybrid era, is because of Manor finishing 11th in 2016. Remove them as a statistical anomaly and their worst average performance is better than the best average performance of any other engine.

I think l see his point, the smaller teams cannot compete with their small resource base on the innovation front compared to the army of resources that the big teams can throw at it.

Ferrari can not compete with the Mercedes-Benz engine and I'd hardly suggest that they have a "small resource base" or lack an "army of resources".

The rules as they stand, lock in the advantage and that's it.