Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes has a “hill to climb” against Red Bull despite a better Friday at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The world champion only managed a best of third place across the two practice sessions at Sakhir, as Max Verstappen finished fastest in the RB16B.
That followed the trend from testing, where Red Bull appeared far more comfortable on track than Mercedes. And Hamilton admits the handling issues do remain a problem despite some progress.
“The car wasn’t where we wanted it by this weekend,” he declared. “It’s looking better but still not perfect so we’re working as hard as we can.
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“It’s all about having a stable car and being able to make the tyres last, that’s going to be key in this climate and with the wind we have here.
“The rear is unstable as it is [without the wind] but I’m sure everyone will be in the same boat – some a little more, some a little less.”
Mercedes do believe changes to the floor and diffuser have made a big difference compared to last year, with Hamilton explaining the impact on how the car behaves.
“When you approach a corner and the rear moves, you’re trying to find that tipping point, but the tipping point used to be further away with more downforce on the car, now it falls away much quicker than normal,” he said.
“The performance we’ve lost on tyres this year also doesn’t help. We still have a hill to climb, but we’re staying positive.”
During the race simulation, teammate Valtteri Bottas was heard on the radio as calling his car “undrivable” and the Finn hadn’t changed his mind afterwards.
“The car felt better than in testing,” he said. “Inconsistency in the balance, especially in the rear-end was one area to work on from testing.
“In terms of set-up approach, things improved and the car does feel better, but it’s not quite yet where we would want it.
“The last long run we did was pretty difficult: I couldn’t really put any laps together and the car felt nearly undrivable at times.
“But it’s only Friday and that’s why we do practice.”
While Mercedes has been keen to push Red Bull as favourites, after Friday, both drivers also highlighted McLaren’s eye-catching pace.
“We thought Red Bull would be as fast as they are, if not faster,” said Hamilton. “So we know they are leading at the moment.
“McLaren is looking great and it’s great to see them taking a step. It’ll be interesting to see how their long runs are.”
Bottas added: “We’re definitively in the mix. McLaren looked pretty strong today, Red Bull was as expected.
“I think we are there, I don’t think we’re the fastest at the moment, but we’re not far off and we have a clear target of where we want to be.”
