Mercedes are “quite a way behind” after a problematic start on Day 1 of testing in Bahrain.
With only three days of running before the opening race in two weeks time, reliability was also going to be essential to teams and drivers getting all the data they needed
But on Friday, the world champions were left garage-bound after just one lap and only managed 48 in total, the least of any team by some margin and Mercedes’ worst for an opening day since 2014.
“It wasn’t a good start because we had a gearbox issue that came out of nowhere that we haven’t yet been ready to identify and understand,” team boss Toto Wolff admitted.
“If we are able to have a smoother ride from here onwards then I think we can recover, but if we have more stumbling blocks, then obviously with three days there’s not a lot you can do.”
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With only a third of the distance that main rivals Red Bull managed under their belt, however, engineering chief Andrew Shovlin accepts Mercedes are already on the back foot.
“We’re quite a way behind on our test programme and need to find a bit of balance and speed,” he said, “but we have two days left and every opportunity to recover the situation.”
Speaking after his tough morning, which consisted of just six laps, Bottas acknowledged the team paid the price for a touch of complacency after opting to skip their usual pre-testing shakedown.
“It’s very easy to say afterwards,” the Finn quipped. “Of course, now, yes, we would have done it [a shakedown] before, but in recent years everything has been pretty much bulletproof and certain things have already been run in the dyno, etc.
“Yes, we can say that now and I’m sure it will be reviewed for next year.”
Hamilton did get the better end of the stick, managing 42 laps, but poor weather in Bahrain and a lively car meant it was less than ideal.
“Today definitely wasn’t the cleanest of days that we’ve had but these things are sent to try us,” he said.
“We had that mishap in the morning which was very unfortunate for Valtteri in terms of losing time on track and the team is working hard to try and understand what that was. I think they did a great job to turn the car around.
“The second session wasn’t without its challenges, but we exist to find solutions to the problems we’re faced with. We just had a good debrief and we’ll keep working away.”
On the dusty conditions, Lewis revealed: “I’ve never seen a sandstorm come through here before in all the years that I’ve driven at this circuit.
“The sand was moving like rain would move and having sand on the tyres isn’t good for their longevity and getting consistency on long runs is difficult. Over a single lap, it isn’t the worst, but you need lots of laps at this time of year to get data.
“We have no choice but to take the positives. We only have a day and a half in the car before the first race, with different tyres and different aero modifications so it’s not easy but it’s the same for everyone.
“I’d like to think my nine years’ experience with this team will help me get the best out of it.”
