After enduring a miserable start to the campaign Mercedes finally looked more competitive in Australia. With George Russell on the podium and Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth the result looks promising. However, looks can be deceiving.

The winter was spent with Mercedes playing down expectations and the paddock generally thinking that the eight times World Champions were sandbagging in testing. With testing having been uncompetitive the general feeling was that the silver machines hadn't shown their true potential. Through three rounds Mercedes are now saying that they've found progress with the W13 and are now ready to be competitive. There's no reason to doubt them but in terms of their full potential wait until we see it before believing Toto Wolff's claims.

The battling performances by Russell and Hamilton were impressive but this weekend Mercedes seemed to be behind McLaren on raw pace and similar to Alpine. They did well on Sunday to walk away with their maximum but they need to make the step forward that Wolff is talking about.

One of Mercedes' strengths has been developing the package and building through the season. That's exactly what they'll have to do.

In Australia the retirements for Verstappen and others elevated Mercedes and that unreliability for Verstappen has also helped Russell start the campaign second in the standings. Their results have been flattered by outside factors but now is the time for them to push on. With the Formula 1 paddock travelling to Italy to race at the famous Imola circuit the season is now ramping up with the
inaugural Grand Prix in Miami and the Spanish Grand Prix in quick succession.

The pressure is on for the dominant team of the last decade to deliver.

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