Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes the challenge from the team’s rivals will “intensify” for the final three races of the 2016 season.
The team has dominated once again this year, winning 16 of the 18 races so far. However, in recent rounds Red Bull and Ferrari have looked closer to Mercedes.
As the fight for the championship hots up between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, Wolff is expecting the team’s closest rivals to put up more of a fight too.
“Nico was very strong in Singapore, Lewis in Malaysia, Nico again in Japan and then Lewis back on top in the USA,” he explained.
“It keeps bouncing between the two, so I'm really curious how it's going to go from here. Then, there is the challenge from our rivals, which will intensify in the final few races.
“We were fortunate with the safety car in Austin. We had the pace – but Daniel (Ricciardo) in particular was very quick, so there is always a threat.
“The longer you leave the rules alone the more teams will converge on performance. Nothing in particular has changed on the chassis side over the past couple of years, so Ferrari and Renault in particular on the engine side have done a good job to close up to us.
“The game for 2017 has also already started, so when you throw all these factors into the mix we are looking at an exciting end to this season and the title battle.”
