Lewis Hamilton concedes ‘we’ve bought lots to work on’ as Mercedes struggles at apply

Questions proceed to linger round Mercedes forward of the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, the primary race of the 2023 Components 1 season. After an up-and-down three days at pre-season testing every week in the past, the primary two apply periods failed to supply the workforce with the solutions they had been looking for forward of the season’s begin.

“We’ve bought lots to work on,” stated Lewis Hamilton after the apply in a press release offered to the media, together with SB Nation. “We knew we had been behind a few of our rivals at testing and in the present day, we discovered that we’re a great distance off. We’ll hold our heads down tonight, undergo the info, and proceed to work to search out some progress for tomorrow. We’ve bought to search out out if we will add efficiency in a single day.”

For Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, the W14 could be higher over the lengthy runs, however qualifying might be one other massive query. “It seems like our race tempo is barely stronger than our one-lap tempo proper now,” Mentioned Russell after the 2 apply periods. “We’ll proceed to have a look at this as we have to discover extra lap time. It’s tough to say precisely the place we’re within the order, however we need to be greater up the timing sheets than we had been in the present day. It’s solely our fourth day with the W14, although, so we’d like to ensure we now have it in the appropriate window and are reaching its full potential.”

Why it might be the case that the W14 is best over the lengthy runs, it nonetheless isn’t the place it must be for Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin. “We made some modifications going into the afternoon and the cooler situations appeared to assist by way of the texture and steadiness, however the tempo continues to be missing,” stated Shovlin after the apply periods. “Single lap appears extra of a problem than the long term however neither are adequate, so we’ve clearly bought some work to do.”

Nonetheless, there’s time for Mercedes to show this round, and the season is simply getting underway. “We’ve bought some concepts to judge in a single day so hopefully we will put collectively a package deal of modifications that may assist,” stated Shovlin on Friday night time.

Hamilton shared an identical sentiment, whereas praising the work of everybody at Mercedes. “Everybody continues to work so onerous and is so brave and considerate within the course of. We have to proceed to graft away and get ourselves again heading in the right direction.”