The opening day of the 2023 season in Bahrain has certainly proved that Mercedes do have issues ahead of the first race of the season, with both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell having been well behind the leaders on Friday.
Hamilton was the better of the two Mercedes drivers in Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2, with the seven-time World Champion having finished 10th in FP1, and then eighth in FP2.
Russell, on the other hand, was 11th in FP1, and then 13th in FP2, highlighting just how much work Mercedes have to do.
The only real positive for Mercedes on the opening day is that they once again didn’t experience any porpoising, meaning they at least have a better foundation to build from than they did last season.
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Regardless of this, though, the Germans are once again not where they want to be, with it looking set to be a challenging start to the year for the Silver Arrows.
Hamilton is seemingly more aware of this than anyone, with the 38-year-old having admitted that he “knew from the moment I drove the car” that Mercedes have problems to solve with the W14.
“I knew from the moment I drove the car where we were and the challenges that we would be facing,” Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365.com.
“On a positive, not having a bouncing issue is a huge, huge plus and trying to understand what the problem is whilst having bouncing really makes it difficult to figure out what those are – so we don’t have that now.”
Whilst Mercedes aren’t where they’d like to be, they can at least maintain the belief that they can turn things around, just like they did last season.
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Despite having started 2022 woefully, Russell still managed to claim a pole position and a victory in the second half of the season, with the hope being that things can be turned around faster this season.
“Now we can focus on just pure performance and I’m encouraged to see just the focus and the courage of everyone within the team. They’re so focused on getting us back to the top,” Hamilton said.
“We’re not where we wanted to be at the start of a season. But this is still a multi-Championship winning team and group of people so I believe in them.”