Verstappen top, Schumacher strong
Mercedes statement worried Lewis Hamilton
03/12/2022 8:53 p.m
What’s the matter with Mercedes? Lewis Hamilton also asked himself this question at the end of the test drives in Bahrain. The record champion does not believe that his team can currently compete for victories. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen and Ferrari provide exclamation marks.
An exclamation mark at the end: world champion Max Verstappen turned up the heat on the last day of the Formula 1 tests in Bahrain and set the clear best time. The Red Bull driver lapped the desert circuit in 1:31.720 minutes, turning the fastest lap of the three days of testing. Red Bull started with completely new sidepods on Saturday, and the result was impressive.
Like the day before, Mick Schumacher was allowed to stay longer on the track for his new teammate Kevin Magnussen after the tests were completed: The Haas racing team had lost test time through no fault of their own on Thursday due to cargo problems. The track got faster and faster on Saturday evening as well, and so the German even turned the second-best lap of 1:32.241 minutes.
A week before the start of the season, however, the direct comparison of Verstappen’s lap time with the Ferraris, which have been so strong so far, was particularly useful: Charles Leclerc was in second place, six tenths behind, until the official conclusion. However, the Monegasse also had the slightly harder tires. Nevertheless, the result gave Red Bull great confidence, especially since the team undertook its fast attempts with the tank still well filled – the time would have been significantly better in qualifying trim.
“Need to Find Speed”
Like Verstappen, George Russell in the Mercedes had put on the softest tire compound and finished fourth, one second behind. “As you can see, we’re not the fastest at the moment. It’s still too early to think about the world championship, but at the moment I don’t think we’ll be fighting for victories,” said record world champion Lewis Hamilton and judged: “Ferrari seems to be the fastest and maybe Red Bull and then maybe us or McLaren. We’re not at the top right now.”
The current situation feels “very different from last year,” said Hamilton: “It doesn’t look so good.” He sees Mercedes facing major challenges in order to be able to keep up with the competition. “I’ve been told we need to find a significant amount of speed,” Hamilton said. That will probably take longer.
Sebastian Vettel (1:33.821) finished tenth in the Aston Martin on the final day. Basically, the times during the test drives are difficult to judge, both engine settings and tank filling can be very different for the teams. On Saturday, race simulations were more on the agenda than chasing fast laps.