Is Mercedes threatening another season without a title? 2022 was a clear setback with third place in the Formula 1 World Championship, but the new year could start the way the old one ended: behind Red Bull. You shouldn’t read too much into the test times, but Max Verstappen already seems to be the big favorite for the title again.
Motorsport boss Toto Wolff used the word “eventually” – i.e. at some point – in the press release for the presentation of the new W14 when it came to whether the new car would be competitive. George Russell now uses the same word after his first outing during the test drives on Thursday.
“You have to think rationally,” he says of a possible title fight with Red Bull. “We believe that at some point we will have a car that can be in the fight. Whether we will have that in Bahrain next week is perhaps a bit too much.”
Mercedes is almost writing off the win at the start of the season, the Red Bull RB19 seems to be too good: “They look very strong and stable, and Max drives well,” says Russell. “But there is no reason why we shouldn’t be there at some point. We have always seen the strength of Mercedes and its development. The belief is there.”
At least the W14 seems to be a step forward compared to its predecessor: “Feel-wise it’s going in the right direction,” says Russell. “But we know that in this sport it’s not about the feeling, it’s about lap times.”
At least better than 2022
The lap time on Thursday was sixth for Lewis Hamilton (+0.671 seconds) and ninth for Russell (+1.337). “The car was still quite out of balance in the morning,” says Wolff to “Sky”. “We just haven’t found the right set-up for the conditions yet, but that’s part of the learning process with a new car.”
“It’s no secret that we have a few problems with the balance, especially in the middle of the curve,” confirms Russell, but is still optimistic: “The balance is easier to solve than last year. Even if it is a limitation, it’s a good problem.”
In general, the problems are much more pleasant compared to the previous year and Mercedes are at least a little happier in this respect. “Compared to twelve months ago, everything is going much smoother,” he says.
“When we were here last year, a lot of alarm bells went off. There was the porpoising and we weren’t sure how to solve it. The characteristics of the car weren’t good either. It’s running better this time and the reliability has been good so far . Certainly we still have to improve a few things, but in general we are where we expected to be.”
Defect stop Russell on Friday
On Friday, however, things were not going 100 percent, at least in terms of reliability: Russell coasted to a halt in the afternoon after just 26 laps with a hydraulic defect and triggered the first red flag of the day. “It is very unlikely that George will go out again,” the team said.
Toto Wolff, meanwhile, is not surprised that Red Bull is so fast. But he also emphasizes that Mercedes is not yet getting everything out of the car. “You have to wait three days,” he says.
But one thing is certain for him: “We definitely want to fight for the world championship. That’s the goal. But you also have to remain humble.”