Wolff: I expect more competition at the front

Last year and the previous year he sang a similar tune, but in truth, his team utterly dominated and have won eight F1 world titles in four years, without much resistance from rival teams.

Nevertheless speaking ahead of the new season, Wolff remains cautious, "I think fans can look forward to a close competition. We had a rule change last year and we had three teams who fought hard at the front. The rules have stayed the same, the engines are converging and I think there are other teams expected to be racing at the front."

"McLaren with the Renault engine is going to be interesting, Renault will eventually recover - they have put a lot of resource behind the project - and Force India has been punching above their weight class."

"You can expect more with Checo [Perez] and Esteban [Ocon] being on fire, proving who is the quicker guy and Williams can always surprise. So, I expect there to be even more competition at the front this year between more drivers and more teams."

"The mindset within the organisation is to stay humble about your own achievements but motivated and energised, in order to try and win races again and eventually - hopefully - be in the fight for the title," added Wolff who will be targeting ten titles in five years come the end of this season.

Lasst season Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth F1 world title, his third as a Mercedes driver, and with teammate Valtteri Bottas they claimed the constructors' title for the fourth time in a row. The pair will spearhead the Silver Arrows challenge for a second season.