Mercedes drivers satisfied but wary of Red Bull

Have we returned to the world before? Reading the rankings of the first free practices of the Emilia-Romagna GP could suggest this with a pair of doubles Mercedes during the opening day in Imola (Italy). 

Author of the two references of the day, Valtteri Bottas highlighted the improvement in the behavior of his W12, which had been capricious to say the least in Bahrain at the start of the season. 

«  The sensations are clearly better than at the same stage of the weekend in Sakhir, confided the Finn when he got out of the car. Afterwards, the track is not the same, just like the surface of the track and its level of grip. 

The car was not far from the ideal set-up from the first laps. In any case, I am much more satisfied with the handling of the car. Everything is not perfect yet but we can clearly feel progress ».  

Same analysis on the side of Lewis Hamilton, who failed respectively 0”041 and 0”010 behind his teammate in the 2 sessions of the day. 

« We got off to a good start in our setting choices, reported the seven-time world champion. We just made a few adjustments here and there. The pace is good. 

The team worked hard to understand what happened in the last race, and review our weaknesses to see where we could improve. But I also think that the track suits us better ». 

Both Mercedes drivers, however, are wary of the ultimate performance level of Red Bull, who had a choppy first day with a contact for Sergio Pérez in EL1 and a problem with the driveshaft on the RB16B of Max Verstappen in EL2.

The Dutchman finished in 3rd position in the morning, just 58 thousandths behind the benchmark set by Bottas. 

« We haven't seen the Red Bulls at their best, pointed out the Finn. We don't think we have the fastest car yet. We will have to confirm our good dispositions in qualifying ». 

Hamilton shared the feeling of his neighbor in the garage and did not fail to also note the times of the Alpha Tauri, notably the 3rd mark of Pierre Gasly in the afternoon. 

« I don't think we saw Red Bull's true potential as they had some hectic sessions, indicated the Briton. It will be interesting to see how fast they are in qualifying. 

The AlphaTauri have done a great job and they look like a very fast car. It’s cool to see Pierre at the forefront ».