Mercedes’ latest F1 triumph means the German manufacturer has become just the second team after Ferrari (2000-2004) to win five successive world championship doubles.

Brawn acknowledged the “impressive” achievements of the Mercedes team to avoid complacency in its battle with Ferrari.

“When you win so much and for so long, it is very easy to fall into the trap of complacency,” he explained.

“It’s almost inevitable but can be avoided by consistently raising the bar. Only Ferrari in the Schumacher era has won more than five titles in a row and I had the honour of being technical director of the team when they managed six.

“I recall that every year we were aware that for the following season, we would be starting again from zero, aware that just because we had been strong before, it didn’t automatically translate into an advantage of fractions of a second, because in Formula 1, you can never stop.

“That’s what the team run by Toto Wolff was able to do - avoid panic when it realised that it was not enough to be perfect to beat Ferrari but that more effort would be required than had initially been envisaged.”