Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes has ‘a lot of work to do’ for Bahrain GP but ready to tackle Red Bull challenge

Red Bull will be posting the fastest times in winter tests and Mercedes admits: “We have had a few recent years with speed in winter tests and we have been able to make good progress before the first race. but our work may have been cut out this time. ”

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes will be challenged to find more distance from their new car ahead of next week’s GP opening in Bahrain, after F1 world winners admitted they were less. fast to Red Bull in preseason tests.

Mercedes encountered more problems than usual in the thick F1 preseason program, with a gearbox problem leaving them playing up miles from the first morning while the W12 was not yet balanced by the appearance of the drivers.

“I’ve never been keen on testing; I love racing. On the other hand, it might be good to have more days,” Hamilton admitted to F1 after the final day.

“Maybe this is the only time I’ve ever been asked for more days!”

Hamilton had two non-sexual spins in the car over the weekend and said the W12 “worldwide” was not performing as expected.

“We have a lot of work to do, it will be difficult,” he said.

Speaking in a team social media video, Hamilton said: “It shows that we may not be fast enough right now, but I have all the faith in the team. We love challenges and certainly this is a challenge for us with the [rule] changes.

“Two spins are rare for me, but in general they have been frustrated with the balance of the car and struggling with it. Yet the car is still in one piece and we still got through Program. “

After deciding not to hold an advertising filming day with the new car before testing what would have been a first shake, Mercedes is doing so Tuesday in Bahrain. It represents their last chance to run the car on the track before the opening round on March 26-28, although the run is limited to 100km and must be completed on special non-racing tires in 2021. .

Mercedes: ‘Maybe our work has been cut out this time’

While Mercedes has always been at the top of the winter milestones in the era of the hybrid-turbo engine they have been in control of since the beginning of 2014, the seven-time champions have never appeared so fast in testing.

That was especially the idea in 2019 when Ferrari seemed to have ‘won’ the winter battle, but then Mercedes took control of the first race.

But can they turn around in short order for a Bahraini GP this time?

Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ director of rail engineering, said: “We have made some progress with the higher fuel balance and the car was more predictable but we can see from the data we have gathered over the last few days. race speed, we are not as fast as Red Bull.

“The lower fuel consumption was a more confusing picture, we didn’t get enough and we have to look at our approach with too many cars ahead of us at a distance.

“In recent years we’ve had some speed with winter tests and we’ve been able to make some good progress before the first race but this time our work may have been cut out.”

What do the Sky F1 pundits say?

“For me, Red Bull is my favorite to leave here,” Martin Brundle said while Sky Sports F1 wrapped up its pre – season broadcast from Bahrain.

“I didn’t see the magic at this test unless they were bagging sand in the most amazing way.”