This year as well, the Mercedes W14 is not the car we all expected. After those big claims of Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton, fans were expecting a strong like never before comeback of the team. So far, as the season is not yet started, nothing can be said for certain, but if the Bahrain Pre-Season test counts in as anything, then we can say that Mercedes is already meeting with some kind of crisis with the black livery W14.
On the second day of testing at Sakhir, Bahrain, Red Bull remained the fastest car. But Mercedes faced hydraulic as well as balance issues. The back-to-back world champion Max Verstappen just made us all believe that it’s again Vertsappen’s year. He covered 157 laps on the first day of the test run, and in all the sessions except for the one that was completed fastest by Zhou Ghanyu, Max remained as perfect as possible. Throwing a sensational run during his tenure of the test, the reigning world champion once again announced the early dominance of Red Bull on the 2023 F1 grid.
Meanwhile, speaking of the rivals that may challenge Red Bull this year, Christian Horner is confused with claiming who exactly will be in the front every time. At present, not only is Red Bull rocking, but also the Scuderia Ferrari is impressing everyone with their innovations. The SF-23 is probably the second-best car, as speculated by the Bahrain test.
Christian Horner Finds Ferrari Quick, Mercedes May Be Holding Back Something
If any team suits perfectly for claiming it to be a comeback, then it is Ferrari. And this has made things difficult for Horner to say who will be at the top. As mentioned by Formula1News.co.uk, Horner said, “Ferrari look like they are quick. But Mercedes’s form is difficult to read at the moment. Seems like they are holding back something. However, we will see this time in the Bahrain Grand Prix.”
How is Mercedes difficult to read, and are they really holding back something? This confusion comes from the fact that Mercedes did very well on the first and last day at Bahrain International Circuit last week. Also, Mercedes has taken a big step by removing the porpoising issue completely from their new F1 car.
The seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, has claimed that the W14 can do better. However, he knows that the test sessions were a little bit struggling but the faith in the engineers who worked that same night to root out the problem remains alive. Hamilton believes that eventually, team Mercedes will overcome all issues. “it is difficult to sum it up [the car’s performance with just a three-day run]. Mercedes have had a couple of difficult days,” said Hamilton. Focusing on the second day of the Bahrain Test, Hamilton claimed it to be difficult. But for the first day, he said, “It did not feel too bad.”