Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff says the team’s advantage in the championship is “no comfort” as it approaches the remaining Grands Prix in the 2018 season.
Mercedes and Ferrari have fought for overall honours at the sharp end of the grid this season, with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel exchanging victories.
But Hamilton and Mercedes have pulled clear in the respective championships courtesy of back-to-back wins in Italy and Singapore.
Hamilton holds a 40-point buffer over Vettel while Mercedes is 37 points clear of Ferrari as Formula 1 heads to Russia for this weekend’s round at Sochi.
“It's obviously better to have a lead than to not have it, but there are six races remaining and plenty of points to score, so it doesn't give us any comfort,” said Wolff.
“We will continue to concentrate on every single session, trying to optimise the car in every possible area – and we will go for the race win.
“There is no naïve optimism about our situation within the team: our mind-set is very positive, we are energised, the factories are buzzing and we're excited for the fight that we will certainly have in the next six races
“We have a good track record in Sochi but we know that Ferrari and Red Bull will give it everything to break our winning streak, so we must fight as hard as ever to make sure we bring home as many points as possible.”
Mercedes has never been beaten at the Russian Grand Prix, a run that stretches back to 1913, when as Benz it triumphed for two years in St. Petersburg.
It would be another century before the Russian Grand Prix was revived, with a World Championship event held around the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics site.
Hamilton took back-to-back wins across 2014/15 while Nico Rosberg (2016) and Valtteri Bottas (2017, which was his maiden F1 win) preserved Mercedes’ record.
