For a neutral Formula One fan, the sight of Mercedes-AMG Petronas already leading the F1 Constructors’ standings by 66 points after just three races may lead them to conclude the 2020 F1 season is already over. However, with an ever-increasing calendar and unconfirmed total number of races to come, there could be many, many points still to play for. Secondly though, as published by motorsport.com, Mercedes Formula 1 technical director James Allison has cautioned that there are still concerns as to how the W11 may handle in hotter temperatures. Seeing how this season will feature the hottest sequence of races due to competing throughout the traditional summer break, there may be a realistic expectation that the battle of the ‘F1 Constructors’ is far from won.

Whether a new fan to Formula One or a ‘purist’ with decades of experiences, facts and memories to their name, most people would agree that in the last 6 years F1 has been rather too predictable. The powers that be at Liberty Media clearly agree – hence the new regulations in 2022 which aim to bring the pack back together. However, one element which is far from predictable is the schedule of the 2020 F1 season where as a result of a global pandemic the season is as fluid as discussion over who Racing Point will sign to their team in the guise of Aston Martin Racing in 2021. What this season has also brought us, and will continue to bring us, is race conditions hotter than before at many tracks and Mercedes have shared a potential anxiety over such an unknown future.

“I'd note that we've had two quite cool tracks,” James Allison revealed. “So far it was warmish in the first race of the year. But that was also the race where we were least convincing. So we would like to find out just how swift we can be when the track is roasting hot, and whether or not we can still show the sort of tyre management and pace under those conditions that we've been lucky enough to show in the opening races of the year.”

Mercedes is a team which is precise, has superb strategists and an efficient pit crew (just ignore Germany 2019) so to have such a reference to luck is very interesting. However, it also goes some way to indicate that maybe Mercedes also expected more from their rivals – Red Bull Racing in particular.

Many pundits predicted an Austrian double-header and trip to the Hungaroring would see Red Bull out front already but in reality - they are in second place. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen has reached a tally equal to his race number – 33 – whereas for Lewis Hamilton a further 30 points need to be added as a result of the 6-time F1 Drivers’ World Champion having amassed 63 points after just 3 events.

“I think anyone who had sat with us through the first weekend of the year wouldn't have entertained the idea of a Mercedes procession at that stage. They would have seen us all desperately worried about the car, and its ability to finish a single race. Every car on the grid has a sword of Damocles hanging over it pretty much every lap, because they are all experimental vehicles with any number of ways that they can catch you out, or actually, you disappoint yourself for not having seen it coming.”

For those not familiar with their Greek mythology, the sword of Damocles implies ‘any imminent, impending, or eventual trouble, danger, or disaster’. The origins of which come from the story of a courtier named Damocles who was forced to sit beneath a sword suspended by a single hair to emphasise the instability of a king's fortunes.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas has certainly amassed a staggering fortune in recent years and for many people, James Allison is a worthy and logical replacement for Toto Wolff should such a time come when the Mercedes maestro chooses to move on. Therefore, to use such a terminology of ‘the sword of Damocles’ could lead one to presume that Mercedes are predicting their time at the top may be close to an end.

“We're only too well aware of the billion frailties that are there, even in a product that is pretty strong, like our car and driver combo that we've got this year. I think too that everyone will have a different view about how long to develop for, we're heading into some fairly big rule changes, both technically and financially. And what you decide to do in this year will definitely set the tone for what comes the year after. And precisely what decisions we make internally will affect our fate in the second half of this championship, and maybe others will decide differently.”

So, anyone looking for unpredictability – look no further.

This is a literal stick or twist moment for so many teams as the cars are effectively frozen for 2021 and so the question is posed as to whether a team spends capital trying to catch up or do they instead try to make a jump on 2022? Like I said - unpredictability.

James Allison also believes that the secret to this early success for the Silver (temporarily black) Arrows is qualifying:

“In qualifying we looked very strong for a couple of races now. The race day though is tougher. The margin is not the same size in the race that it has been in qualifying. We're a sneak ahead than we were in the overall power of the team this year than we were the year before. However, I would say that that might be more to do with the competition having a little bit of a tougher time, rather than us having done something remarkable. And the relevance of that is that normally you can fix something that has gone a little bit wrong, and so the gap might be big now, but it will close down very quickly.”

Not sure many people would agree that race day was particular tough though, due to the fact that Lewis Hamilton came across the line 8.702 seconds ahead of second place Max Verstappen in Hungary. Prior to this, the Styrian Grand Prix was won by the reigning F1 Champion by a margin of 13.719 seconds. However, we were not on the pit wall and so for the neutral race fan, they will most likely hope to see the gap closed (as Allison predicts) and then who knows what may come from a truly unique Formula One season.

Christian Horner is also not having much luck with his 2020 Challenger: https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/16233/f1-hungarian-gp-horner-the-rb16-has-anomalies