– This is one of the worst days I have had in racing. It was not good at all, we lack speed both to the right, to the left and straight ahead, summarizes Toto Wolff to Sky Sports. Again, the Mercedes team leader saw Red Bull and Max Verstappen win a race. It could hardly have been better that Red Bull and Sergio Perez also captured second place. Unlike Mercedes, they have a car that works on all parameters. – Red Bull is just on another planet. That’s what hurts, they are so far ahead of us. It reminds me of our best years, when we took seconds of everyone else. That’s where the list is, and we have to take one step at a time to get back. But we can certainly manage that, Wolff believes. Toto Wolff announces radical changes to the engine. Photo: HAMAD I MOHAMMED / Reuters Heralds radical changes Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton finished fifth in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Not a bad position in isolation, but nothing to pop the champagne for when you have been world champion seven times before. Now Wolff warns that major measures will be taken at the workshop to make the car more powerful. – I think what is needed are much more radical changes than just hoping for an upgrade that amounts to a few hundredths, says Wolff. Such images of a celebrating Verstappen have become commonplace for Formula fans. Photo: HAMAD I MOHAMMED / Reuters Thinks Mercedes is bluffing The statements cause a stir, and are reproduced by a number of major media, but Viaplay’s Formula 1 expert Stein Pettersen does not think Wolff is being completely honest. He believes that what the Mercedes boss says should be taken with a grain of salt. small pinch of salt. – If Mercedes had been as unsure as they are expressing now, they would have come up with a different concept for the season. I don’t think they would have taken these so-called “zero-pods”, which are hardly visible on this car, if they were as uncertain as they appear now, says Pettersen to news. He points out that the entire Mercedes team was under tremendous pressure throughout last year’s season with a car that didn’t work, and he doesn’t think they want to have that kind of pressure on either the drivers or the team now. – That’s why they try to talk it down a bit, and I don’t really think that Mercedes is that far behind. They are not there that they can fight against Red Bull on a day like they had on Sunday, but that they are closer to finding a solution for this car, the expert believes. – Wolf says they are considering what he calls radical changes to the car. What do you think they are considering doing and how likely is it that they will be able to get a competitive car this season? – What they can do is move away from the concept they’ve been working with for a little over a season, and I’m pretty sure they have another design in the back of their mind somewhere, but it’s a design they don’t have had the opportunity to test. That makes me uncertain, and the cost ceiling in Formula 1 makes it more difficult for Mercedes, who would normally have hired 100 extra engineers to work on the concept, but they don’t have the opportunity to do that now, Pettersen replies. – Inside something or other He asks that the Formula fans are more patient before they write Mercedes off. – I think we should give this a couple more races, because during the testing it looked like Mercedes was doing something or other, they looked good the first day, then they struggled violently on the second day, but made adjustments that made the car look much better on day three. They are onto something, the expert believes. Last year’s season was a single long triumph for Verstappen and Red Bull, who could celebrate the world championship title after winning 15 out of 22 possible races. Lewis Hamilton, who for the second year in a row had to look far for the title he has won seven times previously, believes, like Wollf, that the car does not measure up. – Much faster than us, Hamilton finished fifth in Bahrain after being beaten by two Red Bull cars, one Aston Martin and one Ferrari. – We definitely cannot fight against Ferrari at the moment. They were much faster than us, as was Aston Martin. We are the fourth fastest team and are going backwards. We have a lot of work to do to close the gap, says Hamilton according to Sky Sports. Who will win the driver’s championship this season? Max Verstappen Sergio Perez Carlos Sainz Lewis Hamilton George Russell Lando Norris Charles Leclerc Another Show result Mercedes driver George Russell, who finished seventh in Bahrain, predicts that Red Bull will be superior this season as well. – This championship is tailor-made for them. I don’t think anyone is going to fight with them for the title this year. They should win every single race with the performance they have, says Russell according to the BBC. There are 22 races left this season. Next on the program is Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on March 19.
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