Both Mercedes drivers have doubted the new Mercedes car to have the ability to be “competitive” or have the ability to fight for wins post 2022 Bahrain testing.
When Mercedes arrived at the Bahrain pre-season test, they stunned the f1 paddock with an innovative new side-pod design and completed the most laps in this pre-season test with 384 laps completed. However, the Brackley based team may have mixed emotions on their new car and the 2 drivers are not hiding it.
Mercedes’ newest addition to the team George Russell, is quoted as saying “the performance isn’t there” and said the car was “bouncing around a lot”. One of the main talks of testing in both Spain and Bahrain was the ‘porpoising’ effect of the cars. This word was brought back into the sport as a result of this year cars bouncing on the straights and Mercedes seemed to be one of the teams suffering with it the most.
However, latest sources report that Mercedes have a new floor that could solve the problem and be available for the Bahrain Grand Prix. This could improve the performance or resolve the problem but may result in performance loss.
Furthermore, Lewis Hamilton has also spoken about this year’s Mercedes car saying, “At the moment, I don’t think we’ll be competing for wins, but there is potential within our car to get us there.”
Despite this, Hamilton also said last year when asked about the W12, “I wouldn’t call it a struggle necessarily, just not quick enough” however, the 7 time world champion would end up finishing runner up in the 2021 World Drivers Championship.
After Lewis made this claim, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner instantly claimed that it would be ‘Foolish’ to underestimate Mercedes. We have also seen in the past that Mercedes have done both 'sand-bagging’ and also claimed their car is not as competitive as usual.
What is your opinion? Do you think Mercedes will be competing for wins in 2022?