Starting down the order after a grid penalty was normally not a tall order for Mercedes drivers, they had the package to get by the backmarkers and midfield pretty swiftly and more often than not ended up challenging for podiums despite the compromised grid position.
However this season, at least during the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, this was not the case for Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas who pranged heavily in qualifying and his grid penalties meant he started the race from 15th on the grid.
The expected comeback drive did not happen as the Finn toiled all afternoon to finish eighth, scoring points thanks largely to a number of DNFs ahead of him.
Toto Wolff believes that comeback drives could well be a thing of the past, or at least a premium during the course of this season.
The Mercedes F1 chief reflected on Bottas' performance after the race in Melbourne, "Welcome to the new world. I think this is the reality now. I think he overtook more people than anybody else."
"He overtook [Lance] Stroll, he overtook [Esteban] Ocon and he overtook [Stoffel] Vandoorne, so made it three times, and then was lucky with the safety car."
"His timing was spot on and he wouldn't have made it into the top 10 without that, but I think the whole field is much more bunched up and there is no such situation of one car cruising through the fields like we have seen before. '
Asked if he felt this would be the pattern for the next 20 races, Wolff predicted, "In terms of the pattern I think it will depend on the circuits. On less power sensitive circuits the Red Bull might be a little bit closer."
"I expect these three teams (Ferrari included) to be able to win races and go for the championship and you can see behind the group, there is McLaren, Renault and Haas, they are right up there, and for Max and for Valtteri it was not possible to overtake these cars."
Bottas himself lamented the lack of passing opportunities, "All the teams are closer so that makes it difficult. This year the cars have more downforce, so it's more difficult to follow than last year."
"The engine difference is not massive anymore. We still have a bit of an advantage over Renault, but it's not massive, and those cars they are not too bad in the corners. I couldn't get any closer really," explained the Finn.
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