Mercedes has “work to do” after complicated tests

Never Mercedes had never seemed so vulnerable at the start of a season of Formula 1 of the hybrid era. Reliability problems, track excursions, rear axle dragging on the new W12, low mileage: the men of Toto wolff were far from giving off the same impression of serenity as usual. 

En parallèle, Red Bull experienced optimal preparation with an RB16B which seems really well born and terribly fast in the hands of Max Verstappen and his new teammate Sergio Pérez. 

Mercedes had already experienced a difficult winter in 2019, leaving center stage to Ferrari. But the German manufacturer responded in the second week of pre-season testing by arriving in Barcelona with a deeply revised W10. Such luxury is not possible this season due to winter testing being reduced to a minimum for budgetary reasons. 

In the German clan, we recognized on Sunday evening that the 2 weeks between testing and the first GP of the season in Bahrain (March 26-28) were going to be very busy. 

« We improved the balance of the car when fueled and it was more predictable but we can see from the data that we are not as fast as Red Bull in race pace., said Andrew Shovlin, director of engineering at Mercedes. 

As for the laps with little fuel, we didn't make enough progress. We need to review our approach because too many cars are ahead of us in pure performance. We have experienced complicated winters in the past and managed to turn things around, but here we really have our work cut out for us. We don't have much time before returning to Bahrain. We will need an action plan to organize our efforts ». 

Same story with the pilots, who seemed to be running behind their shadow and the time lost in the Sakhir desert. 

« This is the most complicated start to the year that I have experienced with this team., breath Valtteri Bottas, arrived in 2017. I don't feel completely comfortable yet. We have made progress with the settings and our understanding of the car but there is still work to be done. ». 

Lewis Hamilton, he too, confesses that Mercedes is not fast enough at the moment but the Briton recalls the pedigree and incredible track record of the seven-time world champions since 2014 to consider a rebound in performance. 

The W12 will be back on track in Bahrain this Tuesday as part of a promotional shoot that the team would undoubtedly have liked to carry out ahead of winter testing in order to better debunk their new car.