Lewis Hamilton, George Russell concur on being miles away from Red Bull after a moderate showing in F1 Bahrain GP.
Amid talks of radical changes, Mercedes pair Hamilton and Russell put up a brave face in front of media after finishing fifth and seventh in F1 Bahrain GP. They lost out to Red Bull, Ferrari and even Aston Martin on pace and not by luck.
Even though Bahrain is not always the circuit that suites them, by their own admission they feel they are miles behind Red Bull at least. Hamilton, in fact, knew how the car would behave while discussing strategy and already told them it won’t work.
Hamilton didn’t wish to speak more on ‘concerns’ as he didn’t think it was the word that would fit the situation. Teammate Russell had similar notion while stating that it is a ‘big blow’ to them as both agreed on the lack of downforce problem for them.
Additionally, Russell went ahead and put in a bet that Red Bull would win all the races in 2023 with the advantage they have and he doesn’t see anyone challenging after not so good show from Ferrari and Aston Martin not having enough to actually do it.
Car any different from last year –
Hamilton: “It generally felt the same as last year, when we did the strategy on Sunday morning in Bahrain, I told the guys it wasn’t going to go as far as they said it was going to go and it didn’t. We have just got a lot of work to do and we have got to add downforce to the car and we are lacking a lot of downforce so that is really where the time will come. As soon as we put more load in the rear and the front and we’ll pick up that pace. We’ve got work to do as half of Aston Martin is ours and they built their car in our wind tunnel, doing their aero in our wind tunnel, so we’ve got some work to do.
Concerned about 2023 and future –
Hamilton: “Concerned wouldn’t be the word. There is nothing I can say, I don’t want to say too much, we’ve just got to keep working. We know we are not where we need to be and we know that this isn’t the right car. It is a difficult one. But I’ve just got to keep positive, keep my head up and keep pushing the guys. Keep trying to be a positive light for them when I can.”
How far off –
Hamilton: “We were miles away. There was a Ferrari that would’ve been ahead of him so we would’ve really been sixth. So a podium was nowhere near.”
Big blow just at the start of the year –
Russell: “I think, yeah, we’re not going to beat around the bush, of course, it’s a big blow for all of us. We’re a long way behind where we want to be. I think the only positive to take away from all of this at the moment is that there’s no fundamental problem with the car other than it’s lacking downforce. And as silly as that sounds, that’s probably one of the easiest problems to solve, if you compare it to this time last year. And we’ve gone from the car that was bouncing around the most to the car that’s probably bouncing around the least. And perhaps with the regulation change over a year, we’ve maybe just gone a step too conservative in that regard. And maybe we need to go back a few steps to gain some cheap downforce.”
Bahrain a representative of real pace –
Russell: “Bahrain, for sure, is an outlier circuit. But it’s not going to swing more than three tenths, plus or minus, I think, I’d like to think this should probably be one of our more difficult circuits. And even if you look at Mercedes in the past, this has never really been one of their strengths, or one of our strongest circuits. And naturally, we know that the team is good at developing and finding performance. But, you know, we’re a long way behind where we want to be, and we need to find some performance quick.”
Championship fight at all from Mercedes or anyone against Red Bull –
Russell: “Red Bull, they’ve got this championship. I don’t think anybody’s going to be fighting with them this year and I expect them to win… They should win every single race first season is my bet.” Every race? “I’d say so. With the performance they’ve got I don’t see anybody challenging for…”
Red Bull hiding something –
Russell: “I don’t know. I mean, their pace seems weaker this weekend than it was in testing, which was a bit strange. But, you know, they’ve got it easy at the moment, and they can do what they like. And yeah, they might not get on pole all of the time, because we know that Ferrari are very competitive in qualifying. But when it comes to race pace, I think they’re in a very, very strong position.”
Here’s the fight between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-bahrain-grand-prix-alonso-slips-past-hamilton-after-thrilling-battle-between-old-rivals.1759546177496238425.html
Here’s Fernando Alonso against George Russell: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2023-bahrain-grand-prix-alonso-fights-his-way-up-to-p5-after-wheel-to-wheel-battle-with-russell.1759542462983943333.html
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on fight with Fernando Alonso
Here’s how F1 Bahrain GP panned out