As Motorsport.com reports, Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin has argued that the Brackley outfit cannot expect to repeat its run of eight consecutive constructors' titles after its 2026 success.
Mercedes clinched its ninth constructors' championship at Interlagos on Sunday, ending a wait that began after the last of those eight in 2021. The Toto Wolff-led team won every constructors' title from 2014 to 2021, a streak that ended just as F1 entered the ground-effect era in 2022, a year after the introduction of the budget cap. Red Bull and McLaren then took two titles each before this year's new regulations gave Mercedes an opportunity to return to the top.
It does peg you back, but it leads to exciting racing because it's harder to kind of dominate in the way that teams have in the past. But it's just something you've got to work around,
Shovlin joined F1 TV's post-race show in the middle of the celebrations.
"I think one of the things that made us strong this year was that we hadn't been winning in the previous years," he explained. "You've got to look at it as, 'How are we going to beat ourselves next year? What are we going to do that would actually allow us to push forward and bring forward a better team?'"
"It's difficult because it's tight. You've seen Ferrari have very strong races, McLaren today and Red Bull recently. But we will take nothing for granted."
"I think to do the run that we did in the past of eight championships is really impossible with the way the sport is now, with the cost cap. But we'll try and do the same again. Work hard, assume you're going to get beaten if you don't do the best job, and we'll try and do the best job."
As champion, Mercedes will get the least aerodynamic testing time, which Shovlin played down when asked about it.
"It does peg you back, but it leads to exciting racing because it's harder to kind of dominate in the way that teams have in the past. But it's just something you've got to work around," he added.
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