Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said that his claims from before the season started are now somewhat vindicated, as he said that Mercedes will really struggle to beat Ferrari and Red Bull this season.
Mercedes were tipped to be favourites to win the title again this season, and they still are, but the Silver Arrows have not yet shown form that's worthy of champions. Lewis Hamilton did take pole in Australia, but eventually came second, and Valtteri Bottas only finished eighth. In qualifying in Bahrain, Bottas and Hamilton had the third and fourth quickest times respectively, and Hamilton has to start all the way from ninth because of a gearbox change.
“I always said that Ferrari, Red Bull and we are in a tight group, even tighter than last year,” Wolff said in Bahrain.
As for why the car is not performing like it did last year, Wolff had no one specific thing to blame.
“The drivers feel comfortable in the car, we were just not fast enough.”
"Ferrari were quicker than us on all tyres in the long runs on Friday, they just have the better car here," Lewis Hamilton added.
Hamilton added that the whole party-mode argument should now be dead, as Ferrari clearly had the quicker car in qualifying.
"I was surprised, I thought Mercedes would be faster in qualifying," Daniel Ricciardo said.
“It seems that this weekend they’re not up to their usual standard.”
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