F1 News
Mercedes fights: 'We are catching up'
- GPblog.com
Mercedes will experience a tough weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix. During the test days in Barcelona and Bahrain it was already clear that there was a gap with the top teams and that gap was still there during qualifying. Nevertheless, Toto Wolff keeps faith in his team.
Whereas in recent years the German racing team was used to competing for the world title, this year Mercedes seems to have other things on its mind for the time being. As Ferrari and Red Bull Racing are, for the time being, faster than Mercedes, the latter team must also have its eyes on the rear.
Wolff looks realistically at position of Mercedes
Indeed, Lewis Hamilton achieved fifth position in qualifying for the Bahrain GP, while George Russell did not get beyond ninth. It makes Mercedes suddenly have to deal with teams like Alfa Romeo, Haas, Alpine and AlphaTauri. The Mercedes team boss is well aware of that.
"We are the third force and teams like Sauber and Haas are not far from us," Wolff noted in conversation with Auto, Motor und Sport. "This result presents us with a different challenge than we were used to in recent years. Now we are catching up and have to be smart to find our way back."