Mercedes Formula 1 CEO and team principal Toto Wolff has responded to predictions that the Brackley outfit will be very strong in 2026.
The 2026 F1 season will bring in a new wave of regulations that include a hybrid powertrain with a 50/50 split between engine and electric power. Mercedes was dominant during the hybrid era from 2014 to 2021, when it secured eight constructors' championship titles and seven drivers' championship titles with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
As a result, many believe that Mercedes will be strong in 2026. But Wolff is more of the glass-half-empty type.
"Well, I would very much hope so. But I'm a notorious pessimist, and the glass is always half empty rather than half full," the Mercedes team chief explained during a Mercedes debrief video.
"And we've set ourselves targets on the power unit and the same on the chassis. Whether those targets were ambitious enough, whether we have missed the trick... whether our execution is going to be as faultless as it should be? I don't know.
"We're going to see some glimpses of performance balance in testing late in January and then in Bahrain. But I think the name of the game is going to be the constant development of the tools throughout the season."
Sky Sports F1 analyst Bernie Collins also noted that Mercedes will have the benefit of providing power units for three teams in 2026 - Alpine, McLaren and Williams - which means it will have more opportunities to learn.
"I think the status quo will change among the teams because I think it'll be who gets the engine right and who gets the engine wrong," she said during the Sky Sports F1 Show.
"I think the perception is that Mercedes engine teams will rise to the top. But we don't know. We've not compared them against each other.
"But if nothing else, they've got three teams who they are supplying, so they're going to learn a lot faster than Honda, which is only supplying one team."
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