Questions proceed to linger round Mercedes forward of the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, the primary race of the 2023 Formula 1 season. After an up-and-down three days at pre-season testing per week in the past, the primary two apply classes failed to supply the crew with the solutions they had been searching for forward of the season’s begin.
“We’ve got a lot to work on,” mentioned Lewis Hamilton after the apply in a press release offered to the media, together with SB Nation. “We knew we were behind some of our competitors at testing and today, we found out that we are a long way off. We’ll keep our heads down tonight, go through the data, and continue to work to find some progress for tomorrow. We’ve got to find out if we can add performance overnight.”
For Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, the W14 is likely to be higher over the lengthy runs, however qualifying may very well be one other huge query. “It looks like our race pace is slightly stronger than our one-lap pace right now,” Said Russell after the 2 apply classes. “We will continue to look at this as we need to find more lap time. It’s difficult to say exactly where we are in the order, but we want to be higher up the timing sheets than we were today. It’s only our fourth day with the W14, though, so we need to make sure we have it in the right window and are reaching its full potential.”
Why it might be the case that the W14 is best over the lengthy runs, it nonetheless shouldn’t be the place it must be for Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin. “We made some changes going into the afternoon and the cooler conditions seemed to help in terms of the feel and balance, but the pace is still lacking,” mentioned Shovlin after the apply classes. “Single lap seems more of an issue than the long run but neither are good enough, so we’ve clearly got some work to do.”
Still, there’s time for Mercedes to show this round, and the season is simply getting underway. “We’ve got some ideas to evaluate overnight so hopefully we can put together a package of changes that will help,” mentioned Shovlin on Friday evening.
Hamilton shared the same sentiment, whereas praising the work of everybody at Mercedes. “Everyone continues to work so hard and is so courageous and thoughtful in the process. We need to continue to graft away and get ourselves back on the right track.”